LT. GOV. CANDIDATE IS BLUNT ABOUT MARIJUANA-LAWS REFORM

Running for lieutenant governor on a pro-marijuana platform, Gary
Reams expects to take some ribbing, but he's not about to get beaten
to the pun.

``This is really a grass-roots campaign,'' he said, deadpan. He and
his supporters are holding ``pot-lucks'' all around the state. It'll
be a referendum -- no, make that reeferendum -- on Virginia's drug
policy.

Reams, a Libertarian, freely admits he doesn't expect to beat his
well-known, well-financed Democratic and Republican opponents. The
best he's hoping for is to win more than 2 or 3 percent of the votes
in the Nov. 6 election. So it helps to have a sense of humor to stay
motivated on the campaign trail.

But he's quite serious when it comes to reforming Virginia's drug laws.

People with cancer and AIDS should be able to use marijuana to ease
their suffering, he said. Virginia farmers should be allowed to grow
industrial hemp, which lacks the intoxicating power of marijuana. And
police should stop wasting resources by going after nonviolent
marijuana users.

Reams has been planning this campaign for two years, hoping to show
politicians that there's more support out there for reform than they
think.

``Neither of the major parties will deal with this,'' he said.

Because Virginians can't put these questions to a vote in a
referendum, Reams decided to run for a statewide office as a
single-issue candidate. He chose lieutenant governor, he said,
because the job has little power, so voters can feel free to vote
their conscience. In the unlikely event he won and the governor
became incapacitated, Reams said he would resign immediately.

``This campaign is not an appeal to users to come out and party,'' he
said. ``What I am stating is that the marijuana prohibition has gone
too far and it's time to reform the marijuana laws.''

Reams is short on money -- as of Sept. 30, he'd raised $15,414 to his
opponents' combined $2.5 million. To spread his message, he's
launched a Web site, www.reamsreeferendum.com. He's also spending a
few days each week traveling the state stumping for votes, taking
time off from his job as director of quality for the electronics
company NEC in northern Virginia.

Reams doesn't resort to euphemisms when talking about marijuana and
his younger days.

``I didn't experiment -- I used,'' he said bluntly. He stopped, he
said, after he lost interest in it.

He was arrested once, as a teen-ager, but the charges were dropped.
He said he feels lucky -- today, a teen-ager with a drug record risks
losing financial aid for college, among other consequences.

Now he's 45, a Navy veteran, the father of two grown sons. He figures
there are a lot of guys like him out there. He wants them to ask
themselves how their lives would be different if they'd become
entangled with the law because they used pot in their youth.

Reams said his views were also shaped by watching a close relative
struggle with an addiction to crack cocaine. ``It ruined her life,''
he said, and the legal system only made it more difficult for family
to help.

Virginia police made 13,559 arrests on marijuana charges in 2000.
That's 58 percent of all drug-related arrests -- more than any other
drug, and twice as many as for cocaine.

But few of those arrested for marijuana go to jail, said Rick Kern,
director of the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. Most people
charged with drug possession receive probation, especially if they're
first-time offenders, he said.

``It's pretty much the case that our expensive prison beds are
reserved for those who are selling,'' Kern said.

The General Assembly has also begun to put more emphasis on drug
treatment by screening all felons for drug problems and allowing some
offenders to enter treatment programs instead of jail, he said.

Reams' opponents, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine and Republican Jay
Katzen, oppose any loosening of the laws on marijuana and hemp. But
Reams notes that some mainstream organizations are also calling for
reform.

The Virginia Nurses Association supports medical marijuana. The
Virginia Farm Bureau Federation supports the right to grow industrial
hemp.

Reams said if it takes someone like him to draw attention to the
issue, that's fine. ``I don't mind being that lightning rod.''