LIBERTARIAN RUNNING TO MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL

RICHMOND - Last year, 53 Virginians voted to send a ficus tree to
Congress. This year's candidate from the floral kingdom is an outlaw,
so it's using a human stand-in.

Gary A. Reams, a member of the Libertarian Party of Virginia, says a
vote for him is a vote for marijuana.

Reams wants to legalize the drug. Because Virginia does not allow
citizen groups to place referendums on the ballot, he is running for
lieutenant governor in what he calls a ``reeferendum.''

``This campaign is about ending pot prohibition,'' Reams said in a
news conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday. ``When they vote for
me, it is not a vote for Gary Reams the person.''

Reams' crusade is unrelated to last year's Ficus 2000 for Congress
movement, started by filmmaker Michael Moore to poke fun at
politicians across the country who were running unopposed.

The tongue-in-cheek campaign generated 53 votes for a ficus tree in a
write-in campaign against Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th District.

Unlike the ficus tree, Reams hopes to have his name on the ballot in
November.

He said he filed 19,000 signatures with the State Board of
Elections.

State officials will review the petitions to ensure that they include
at least 10,000 valid signatures before placing him on the ballot.

Reams is a resident of Fairfax County and a director of quality for a
telecommunications firm.

Virginia Libertarians also have nominated William Redpath as their
gubernatorial candidate.