VOTE NO ON BALLOT MEASURE 5, 99HEMP

Ballot Measure 5, 99Hemp, would legalize the cultivation, distribution,
sale, possession and use of marijuana.

If approved, the measure will take your tax dollars and pay marijuana drug
pushers and users restitution for their prior criminal convictions and
civil forfeitures. If the measure passes, Alaska will become the drug haven
of North America.

Marijuana is a "gateway" drug. Marijuana is an addictive drug. Addictive is
defined by compulsive, repeated use in spite of adverse consequences.
Seventy-five percent of individuals who use marijuana 100 or more times go
on to use cocaine.

Marijuana destroys an individual's drive and initiative, and, in effect,
"dumbs down" an individual's self-esteem and ability to distinguish right
from wrong. Since marijuana is fat-soluble, its effects persist much longer
than alcohol which is water-soluble. A single marijuana cigarette impairs
an individual for more than 24 hours. Legalization of marijuana will place
additional severely impaired drivers on Alaska's roads and highways.
Alaska's tragic driving-under-the-influence problem will vastly increase if
marijuana is legalized.

This initiative allows 18-year-old high school students to grow and use
marijuana without their parents' knowledge, permission or consent.
Marijuana destroys an individual's desire to be the best she or he can be.
All Alaskans should say "absolutely no" to the marijuana drug-pushing
community.

Please do no be misled to believe this initiative is for the development of
a hemp garment industry in the Last Frontier. All Alaskans should send
messages that our foundational lifestyles, industries and professions,
including subsistence, transportation, oil, fishing, timber, mining,
farming, government, teaching, military, tourism and others have no use for
marijuana drug users. The measure is irresponsible and detrimental to all
Alaska communities, urban and rural.

The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocanabinol, or THC,
today is 50 to 100 times stronger than the "pot" of the 1960s smoked at
Filmore West, Golden Gate Park and the Haight-Ashbury district in San
Francisco. Alaska's illegally cultivated marijuana is grown in
sophisticated hydroponic indoor grows. Alaska's marijuana with its very
high THC content allows the drug user to "tune in, turn on and drop out" of
reality, not just get high.

Alaska's criminal marijuana industry is held in high regard in the
worldwide drug culture due to the very high THC content in Alaska's
marijuana. If marijuana is legalized, Alaska will become North America's
drug capital and gateway to drug trafficking from Asia, the Russian
republics, the Middle East and Europe. Alaska's rural and urban communities
will attract a criminal culture that would change Alaska forever.

Drug users and pushers are a problem since their lifestyle is very
destructive to the individual, their family, friends, co-workers and
society in general. Drug users and pushers are "self-absorbed" individuals
who cannot or will not deal with the realities of life. Legalized marijuana
will have vast destructive effects on Alaska.

Hospital emergency room visits related to marijuana have increased
three-fold since 1990. This is most probably due to the high THC content in
today's marijuana. Marijuana's high THC fosters mood changes including
depression, anxiety, panic and indifference. This high THC also greatly
enhances the marijuana symptoms of mania and aggression. Decreased brain
activity from the use of marijuana has a debilitating effect on learning
and memory. Marijuana usage has a direct effect on male reproduction
capability by essentially decreasing testosterone production and sperm counts.

Marijuana's health hazards are greatly in excess of tobacco cigarettes.
Smoking one marijuana cigarette leads to "airway deposition" of four times
as much cancer-causing tar as does one tobacco cigarette. In a European
country where authorities ignore the use of marijuana, the percentage of
youthful users has risen drastically.

The burden of legalized marijuana on Alaskans will be tremendous.

Please vote "no" on Ballot Measure No. 5, 99Hemp.

Weverly William Shea is an Anchorage attorney and former U.S. attorney for
the District of Alaska.