MARIJUANA LAWS AN ELECTION ISSUE IN MANY WESTERN STATES THIS FALL

Proposals Range From Medicinal Use To Full Legalization, Amnesty

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Marijuana is on the ballot across the West this fall,
from proposals to allow its medicinal use in Colorado and Nevada to
measures that would let it flourish in Mendocino County and Alaska.

Nevada and Colorado voters will be asked if marijuana should be legal for
medicinal use. Recent polls suggest likely passage in both states. Since
1996, similar measures became law in California, Oregon, Washington,
Alaska, Maine and Hawaii.

Pot would be legal in Alaska under the measure there.

Under Mendocino County's Measure G, adults could grow 25 pot plants apiece,
but not for sale or transporting. The sheriff and prosecutor would make
marijuana crime their last priority and county officials would seek an end
to state and federal marijuana laws.

There's no organized opposition -- little surprise in an area whose yearly
marijuana crop has a street value around $1 billion.

Nevada voters already approved medicinal marijuana by a 59 percent vote in
1998. A second "yes" vote is needed to modify the state's constitution to
allow medicinal-marijuana use. A Las Vegas Review-Journal poll reported
Sept. 18 that 63 percent of likely voters backed Question 9, 28 percent
opposed it and 9 percent were undecided.

"Nevada voters get it. They know this is a public-health issue completely
unrelated to the war on drugs," said Dan Geary of Nevadans for Medical
Rights, the measure's sponsor.

Colorado's Amendment 20 also would permit marijuana for serious or chronic
illness, under a doctor's care. A Denver Rocky Mountain News poll published
Sept. 17 found 71 percent of registered voters favored the measure, and 23
percent opposed.

Advocates say prescribed marijuana aids thousands coping with ailments such
as glaucoma, nausea from chemotherapy and appetite loss from AIDS.

The Justice Department points to marijuana's ill effects, including cancer,
addiction and mental disorders. Also opposed are the American Medical
Association, and national groups dealing with eye diseases, cancer and
multiple sclerosis.

Alaska's Ballot Measure No. 5 faces much hard going, and could fail by a
2-1 ratio, according to preliminary poll results by Anchorage-based Dittman
Research.

Besides making marijuana legal, the initiative would give amnesty for
marijuana crimes and offer restitution to those who served prison time. It
also would require state challenges to relevant federal laws.

Len Karpinski, an Anchorage oil worker and a backer of "99Hemp," says the
measure would have a chance "if people will just let us go out and show
everybody what this wonderful plant is about."