INTEREST HIGH IN MENDOCINO COUNTY POT MEASURE

The burning issue on Mendocino County's ballot, a grow-your-own marijuana
measure, is a bit of a moot point. Hemp husbandry may be a hit with voters,
but state and federal laws banning pot will still apply.

Still, backers have high hopes for Measure G, which could become the first
such law in the country. Alaska voters also are considering legalizing pot,
but there is considerable contention over that measure, which includes
offering restitution for time spent in prison for marijuana crimes.

Mendocino County's cannabis campaign faces no organized opposition.

"Measure G is a political statement by the people of Mendocino County that
we think that the war on marijuana is hugely wasteful. We want to move
political opinion and that's really what this initiative is all about,"
said Dan Hamburg, a former Democratic congressman turned Green Party
activist who is among those backing the marijuana measure.

Lovely and remote, Northern California's Mendocino County is the land of a
thousand postcards. But beyond the white-gabled inns and soaring redwoods
is another country. The "Emerald Triangle" where Mendocino, Humboldt and
Trinity counties converge about 150 miles north of San Francisco, produces
a pot crop with a street value of around $1 billion annually. And it's no
ordinary smoke. Prized by connoisseurs, Emerald Triangle marijuana commands
up to $5,000 a pound.

Last year, state anti-marijuana forces raiding the county's illicit pot
farms seized more than 63,000 plants valued at more than $250 million.

Measure G would prohibit sale or transportation of marijuana. But it would
legalize uncounted hordes of pot YIMBYs -- Yes in my backyard -- by
allowing residents to grow up to 25 plants for their own use. It also would
direct county law enforcement to make busting small-time growers a low
priority.

Authorities here already do that; Sheriff Tony Craver is among the 5,900
residents -- twice the required amount -- who signed the petition to get
Measure G on the ballot.

Pass or fail, Craver said he will enforce state and federal bans on
marijuana -- something he suspects will come as an unpleasant surprise to
would-be pot farmers who interpret Measure G as a license to till. "I'm
sure there'll be some political turmoil surrounding this issue."

Most expect Measure G to pass considering that voters were 64.5 percent in
favor of the 1996 state initiative allowing use of marijuana for medical
reasons. That measure passed but is still being fought over in the courts.

But support is not universal.

"I think it's going to give a mixed message to kids. And I think it's a bad
message," said Gary Brawley, superintendent of the Ukiah Unified School
District.

A lunch-hour sample at the outdoor deck of a cafe in rural Boonville drew
mixed opinions.

"I think it's a bunch of crap," said county resident Eddie Pardini. "Sure,
there may be people that need it for medicinal purposes or whatever, but
somewhere down the line it's going to be abused. Kids are going to get it."

One table over, Hugh Hamilton thought he'd vote for it.

"I would say, why not? I think there are good cases for medical use and I
really think a lot of time and money's being wasted in the war on drugs in
going after the little stuff. I kind of see it as Prohibition all over again."

At 82, Measure G backer Ann Deirup is old enough to remember Prohibition.

A tree farmer near the seaside village of Mendocino, Deirup's never smoked
a joint. But she thinks the current approach to marijuana makes no sense.

"I am not into the thing. I don't grow it. I don't smoke it. But I don't
think it's as dangerous as alcohol," she said.