LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SNUFFS MARIJUANA DRIVE, RULES HUNDREDS OF SIGNATURES
INVALID

Juneau (AP) -- Lt. Gov. Loren Leman stopped an initiative drive seeking to
decriminalize marijuana, ruling Tuesday that hundreds of signatures
collected were not valid.

Leman, a former state senator who sponsored a bill in 1999 to turn back the
state's medical marijuana laws, said in a statement that the pro-marijuana
group will have to begin from scratch to get its measure before voters in 2004.

The proposed initiative would have asked voters to decriminalize and
regulate marijuana.

Backers submitted 484 booklets containing signatures of Alaskans who
supported putting the measure on the ballot. But officials with the state
Division of Elections found several discrepancies in the petitions, Leman said.

In several instances the identity of those who signed the petitions could
not be verified or were not registered voters, a spokeswoman for the
Division of Elections said.

Election workers also did not count 194 booklets containing signatures
because of poor record keeping, the division said.

Tim Hinterberger of Anchorage, one of three primary sponsors of the
initiative, said Tuesday night that he "more than anticipated" Leman's
reaction. "We're sure they'd prefer not to see this on the ballot," he said.

Hinterberger said he had not yet seen the details of the decision but
planned to go over them carefully. "We're absolutely not prepared to give
up on it," he said.

Alaska law requires a petition drive to collect signatures equal to 10
percent of the voters in the previous statewide election to get an
initiative on the ballot.

Backers of the marijuana initiative needed 28,782 signatures to get the
measure on the 2004 ballot. The state Division of Elections verified 21,737
signatures of registered voters, said spokeswoman Virginia Breeze.

The lieutenant governor's office said initiative sponsors will have to
start the petition process again to get it on the ballot.

Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant contributed to this story.