THE POLITICS OF POT

Bill Smits, 22, of Greeley stands next to his truck that has a sign
in the back of his window with a saying that saved his life. When
Smits was a teen, he had constant chemotherapy, which made him vomit
everything he ate. He lost 84 pounds in a month. Medical marijuana
was the only thing in the beginning that helped him keep food down.

You would think, just by seeing his pickup truck, that Bill Smits
would favor the ballot initiative in the upcoming election that would
legalize marijuana possession in Colorado.

His pickup, which has the professionally-painted sign, "CANCER SUCKS
marijuana saved my life!" in his back window, obviously draws
attention as he drives around Greeley. But Smits' sign isn't about
legalization. It's about medicinal marijuana.

As a teen, Smits had a cancerous tumor on his brain stem, and he had
to undergo almost constant chemotherapy, drugs, radiation and
surgeries. Because of the chemo, he was nauseous most of the time.

"I lost 84 pounds in one month," says Smits, who is now 22 and
cancer-free. "Everything I ate, I threw up."

He tried Marinol, a drug that has some of the chemicals of marijuana,
but it didn't work. Then he got some marijuana from friends in
Boulder and it stopped the nausea. Smits was able to keep food down,
and he began to get well.

If you ask him how he survived cancer, he'll give you a one-word
answer: "Weed."

But because he still considers marijuana dangerous for some people,
he is undecided on a ballot initiative that would make the weed legal
in Colorado.

"I think it's important for some people -- those seriously ill -- to
have marijuana if they need it. But it shouldn't be abused, either,"
Smits said.

Smits said he no longer uses marijuana because he was afraid of
becoming addicted. He tapered off after the cancer was in remission.

"But I'm still not sure how I'll vote on the question," Smits said.

Two people are convinced of their positions on the question, Weld
County Sheriff John Cooke and the man who led the election to get the
marijuana legalized in Denver, Mason Tvert. Here is a summary of
their arguments:

Cooke:

* "There's a lot of reasons to be opposed to marijuana. The
initiative is a slippery slope -- first medical use, then
legalization of marijuana, and eventually legalization of all drugs."

* "Alaska legalized marijuana for a time, and because of all the
problems it presented, they voted to make it illegal again."

* The way we're going, we will eventually make cigarette smoke
illegal and marijuana smoke legal."

* "We know it's a gateway drug -- it starts young people on the path
to using more and more dangerous drugs."

Tvert:

* "Government tests and medical labs have shown over and over that
marijuana is less harmful than alcohol."

* "Forty-seven percent of America's population have smoked marijuana
and they had to get it illegally."

* "The Denver election showed that the people don't want marijuana to
be illegal anymore."

* "The only way it's a 'gateway drug' is when the police arrest
people for minor possession, and that starts them through the gate
into being criminals."

Cooke and Tvert agree that if the initiative passes, marijuana will
continue to be a federal crime. And, both agree that no federal agent
will bother to arrest anyone with a small amount of the weed.

Amendment 44 would legalize the possession of up to 1 ounce of
marijuana for adults 21 years of age or older. Still illegal would be:

Possession of marijuana under 21.

Possession of more than an ounce.

Transfer to person under 21 years old.

Growing marijuana.

Selling marijuana.

Open or public display of marijuana.

Driving under the influence of marijuana.