WAR ON DRUGS THWARTS A PEOPLE'S WILL

Federal judge Richard Roberts and the Washington, D.C., Board of Elections
recently struck a blow for democracy and liberty. If members of Congress
and President Clinton still cherish those values, they'll do the right
thing and not compound a mess of their own making.

On November 3, 1998, Washingtonians voted on Initiative 59, a local measure
to allow medical marijuana. The next day, results were absent from the
morning papers. In fact, news that I-59 won 69 percent approval was not
released until September 20, more than 10 months after the polls closed.

Why the delay? In a move better suited to East Timor than the capital of
the Western world, Congress and the President chose to squelch freely cast
votes as the latest tactic in the increasingly draconian War on Drugs.

In October, 1998, President Clinton signed legislation sponsored by
Representative Bob Barr of Georgia that prevented the tabulation and
certification of I-59 ballots.

Thankfully, Judge Roberts dismissed this authoritarian measure on September
17. "This Court concludes that the results of votes properly cast in a
properly conducted election are core political speech," Roberts ruled.
"First Amendment speech through the vote would have been effectively
extinguished if the Barr Amendment had blocked releasing and certifying the
results."

Washingtonians joined voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada,
Oregon, and Washington state in approving medical marijuana. "Our ultimate
goal is to force Congress to change federal law so that medicinal marijuana
users nationwide no longer have to live in fear of being arrested," says
Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project, an I-59 proponent.

GOOD LUCK, Chuck. Winning federal approval of medical marijuana is as
unlikely as finding a Cheech & Chong album in former drug czar Bill
Bennett's CD collection. Congress has 30 working days after I-59's
certification to reject it, as it may do to new rules adopted in the
federal district. Instead, Congress should leave this law alone.

If it reverses I-59, this Republican-controlled Congress would crush an
American election. Many Republicans (and Democrats) believe the ends
justify the means in the War on Drugs. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
has called for executing drug dealers, while Bennett once advocated their
beheading. Overturning I-59, however, might encourage future Congresses,
perhaps led by Democrats, to quash future District ballot initiatives --
say, to cut Washington's high taxes or ban local public funding of
partial-birth abortions.

In a democracy, politicians must yield to the will of the people, except
when courts judge their actions unconstitutional. If Congress kills I-59,
anti-democratic state legislators may find similar ways to thwart voters
who dare to adopt initiatives politicians dislike.

Basic humanity and a commitment to individual liberty also compel Congress
to allow I-59 to go into effect. It's one thing to say that teen-agers
shouldn't smoke grass. It's quite another to advocate state intervention to
prevent a doctor from prescribing marijuana to patients beleaguered by
AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other ills. Do members of Congress really
know better than cancer sufferers what might ease the pain of chemotherapy?
True, THC -- an active marijuana ingredient -- is available in pill form.
Alas, many with AIDS and cancer cannot swallow pills without vomiting.
Besides, permitting the sick to swallow but not smoke THC is like promoting
whiskey while prohibiting wine as an "illegal alcohol delivery system."

THOSE WHO think children will smoke pot because it is medically permissible
also must explain how the sight of emaciated AIDS sufferers and bald
chemotherapy patients puffing on joints will enthrall adolescents.

Youngsters might be more impressed by prominent politicians who have smoked
non-pharmaceutical marijuana then risen to high office. "I have used
marijuana several times in my life, but never cocaine," Democratic
presidential contender Bill Bradley declared on ABC's "This Week" September
19 as Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts cooed with admiration. Bill Clinton
and Newt Gingrich say they smoked grass years ago. "That was a sign we were
both alive and in graduate school in that era," Gingrich said on "Meet the
Press" in December, 1994. Vice President Albert Gore and Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt inhaled, as did Representative Dana Rohrbacher. As the
California Republican said on "Politically Incorrect": "I did everything
but drink the bong water."

If pot use among America's most distinguished public servants elicits winks
and chuckles from the media and the masses, Congress and the White House
have no moral basis to deny marijuana to those who consider it a medical
necessity.