SETTLEMENT LETS MARIJUANA GROUP PASS PETITION AT POLLS

Marijuana rights activists have won a second federal court case
against Jacksonville that allows them to return to the polls Tuesday
to gather signatures for a possible 2002 ballot question.

City Hall officials settled with Floridians for Medical Rights
recently after its members said police threatened to arrest them
outside a Mandarin church in 1999. The members were seeking signatures
in support of a statewide ballot question on whether to allow the
legal use of marijuana for medical reasons.

The group's first victory against Jacksonville came in federal court
after there were similar problems at a Southside polling place in 1998.

The settlement gives the group $1,500 in court costs and tells police
and poll workers that the petitioners can't be harassed as long as
they collect signatures at least 50 feet from polling precincts.

Group organizer Scott Bledsoe said members plan to be at about a dozen
Mandarin and Baymeadows Road polling sites for Tuesday's primary election.

"I am pleased with . . . what we have accomplished. I hope we can
continue our work for this free speech issue and that other groups can
take advantage of this," Bledsoe said. "I do not expect any problems
this time."

There are 16 new polling locations in Mandarin and Southside because
of the controversy. Some property owners who previously leased space
for polling, many of them churches, told Supervisor of Elections John
Stafford they didn't want marijuana rights activists on their property
again this election year.

"It could have been a big problem," Stafford said, adding that
affected voters have been notified of changes. "It really had an
impact on our Baptist churches. A lot of those people just didn't want
to deal with that."

Floridians for Medical Rights has collected signatures since 1997, and
Bledsoe said the group has about 10 percent of the 435,000 signatures
they need to get the medical marijuana use question on the ballot.

As a result of the latest settlement, Stafford issued a memo to poll
workers, reminding them that petitioning is "a constitutional right."
Police officers received a similar notice at roll calls last week,
said Steve Rohan, City Hall's assistant general counsel.