SAGINAW ATTORNEY'S MARIJUANA PUSH FALLS SHORT

Gregory C. Schmid's dream went up in smoke.

The Saginaw lawyer's band of 3,000 grass roots volunteers collected about
half of the 302,711 signatures they needed by Monday to put the
decriminalization of marijuana on the November statewide ballot.

"The miracle didn't happen," Schmid said. "We ran out of daylight, as they say.

"With a little more time and a little more money we could have pulled off
the miracle of the century."

After spending $10,000 out of his own pocket, coupled with a few thousand
dollars more in contributions, the state coordinator of the National
Organization of the Reform of Marijuana Laws says he'll try again before
the 2002 general election.

"We're starting right away," he said, vowing to create a chapter of the
pro-marijuana law reform organization in all 83 Michigan counties. "With a
little luck and $75,000, we should be able to successfully pull it off."

Michigan drug czar Darnell Jackson, director of the Office of Drug Control
Policy, is glad Schmid's ballot attempt failed.

The failure, Jackson said, is indicative of most Michiganians' attitudes
toward marijuana use: Just say no.

"People realize there are other ways to deal with issues (than) a
one-size-fits-all approach," said Jackson, a former Saginaw deputy police
chief and assistant prosecutor.

Schmid contended that a Detroit radio station's recent poll that concluded
83 per cent of those who called in supported the proposed Personal
Responsibility Act shows it could pass.

But Jackson dismisses Schmid's logic.

"It depends on who you ask and what's their opinion of the day," he said.

If the act had become law, it would have legalized the use, and possession,
of up to three ounces of marijuana, and sent drug forfeiture money to
voluntary education and treatment programs.

- -Call Barrie Barber at 776-9725.