GRASS ROOTS CAMPAIGN

Last Saturday, 40,000 sun-splashed celebrants rallied near the Statehouse
to support the decriminalization of marijuana, making Boston Common look
like the parking lot outside a Grateful Dead concert. The next day,
straitlaced presidential candidate Bill Bradley -- a former Rhodes Scholar
and United States Senator -- acknowledged on an ABC news program that he
had smoked marijuana years ago, then asked his interrogators if they had,
too. Sam Donaldson said yes.

The Bradley interview made some news, in part because he turned the tables
on the press, but did no damage to his presidential campaign. Millions of
American voters who have tried marijuana were not about to judge him harshly.

And taken together, the events last weekend point to a tougher question
many Massachusetts residents may have to ponder soon in the privacy of a
voting booth. Given their past experience sharing a joint, but also given
their hopes and fears for their own children, would they vote to
decriminalize marijuana?

The question is not theoretical. A group called the Committee to Reform
Marijuana Laws is sponsoring an initiative petition that would make
possession of marijuana a civil violation, akin to a $200 speeding ticket,
as opposed to a criminal misdemeanor that subjects pot users to arrest and
prosecution.

Supporters of the proposal, which could be on the 2000 ballot, argue that
the public is ready to make the change, since many voters have enjoyed a
benign, albeit illegal, experience with marijuana.

"Too many people are being arrested on simple possession charges," said
Steven Epstein, a North Shore lawyer and spokesman for the Massachusetts
Cannabis Reform Coalition. "I think the general populace if they read the
summary and get a good understanding of what it is about will definitely
favor this initiative."

"They lived through it and they are all here to say, 'yeah, we survived,'"
added Framingham resident James Pillsbury, a spokesman for the MetroWest
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and
one of the first ten signees of the petition.

And a top Democratic political consultant, who is not involved in the
decriminalization campaign, said he thinks earlier action to allow some
medical uses of marijuana in Massachusetts signal that a major shift in
voters' attitudes has already taken place.

"What that says to me is the public is making quantum leaps on the
decriminalization of marijuana," said consultant Michael Goldman. "What's
really happening is as the older voters dissipate as a voting block, it's
more likely that marijuana will become legal."

Making It To The Ballot

The language of the initiative petition crossed one hurdle this summer when
it was cleared by the state attorney general's office. The measure would
prohibit police from arresting adults for possession of marijuana, but
would empower authorities to issue fines of between $50 and $200.

Anyone under the age of 18 caught with marijuana would be held until
released to their parents or guardian, and a fine would also apply. Anyone
who knowingly sold marijuana to a minor would be subject to up to a 2
1/2-year jail sentence and $5,000 fine under the proposed law.

But to make it onto the ballot, the question's backers face a daunting
challenge. Following strict guidelines, their grassroots campaign will have
to collect 57,100 signatures from registered voters by mid-November.

"That is a monumental task," Epstein acknowledged, though the campaign may
have gotten a jumpstart at last weekend's rally.

Epstein said 1,500 copies of the petition were circulated, meaning
organizers may have collected more than 10,000 "raw" signatures. However,
many signatures will have to be weeded out if they came from supporters who
are not registered voters in Massachusetts.

Many people at the rally, for example, were college students who tend to be
from out-of-state or are not registered to vote.

While Epstein said up to 2,000 volunteers can be called upon to collect
signatures around the state, some opponents said they doubted the campaign
would muster enough written support to make it to the ballot.

"I think people will be reluctant to put their name on the petition," said
state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham. "I think it's hard for people to put
their names on a piece of paper to legalize marijuana and then go home and
tell their children not to use drugs."

Several other initiatives in the past, including proposals to cut taxes or
abolish tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike, have also failed in initial
attempts to qualify for the ballot because of the difficult task of
collecting enough certified signatures.

But Goldman thinks enough signatures can be collected, especially if
supporters spruce up their appearance, just as college students going
door-to-door for Sen. Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential bid cut their
hair in a "Clean for Gene" campaign.

"You've got to have kids without nose rings doing these things," Goldman
said of the signature drive.

Who's For It?

Another problem facing the decriminalization campaign is the fact that few
public figures are likely to speak out in favor of the measure.

While billionaire currency trader George Soros backed a successful 1996
campaign to allow medical use of marijuana in California, the current
Massachusetts proposal has no such sugar daddy.

Meanwhile, many police, prosecutors, and legislators are likely to speak
out against wholesale decriminalization.

Bob Weiner, a spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug
Policy, said marijuana was still illegal under federal law and recited a
litany of social ills that opponents attribute to smoking pot.

"The fact of the matter is marijuana is a drug which increases car crashes,
expands dropouts from work and school, stops workplace productivity, and is
dangerous to health," said Weiner, who works for national "drug czar" Barry
McCaffrey.

Proponents of decriminalization dismiss such statements as overheated
propaganda. And McCaffrey's office also opposes any medicinal use of
marijuana pending further clinical studies, suggesting a more hardline
attitude than exists in a socially progressive state like Massachusetts.

While Epstein said chronic long-term marijuana use can lead to chronic
bronchitis, in 14 years as a lawyer, he said he has only represented one
defendant accused of driving while impaired by marijuana.

"People tell me 'when we hang around and just drink we're likely to drive
about, but when we're smoking marijuana, we don't want to go anywhere.
We'll just call Domino's,"' Epstein said.

And Pillsbury, 46, said he rarely meets people whose lives have been harmed
by marijuana use.

"I'm celebrating my 31st year of consuming cannabis. As far as I'm
concerned there are no detrimental effects," Pillsbury said. "The hundreds
of thousands of people who are consuming cannabis are not dropping dead
each year."

Is Pot A 'Gateway' Drug?

Debate also rages over whether marijuana should be considered a " gateway"
drug, the first step toward dangerous narcotics such as cocaine and heroin.

Epstein and Pillsbury say such arguments are one of many "myths" opponents
use to demonize marijuana, and point to medical studies that assert there
is no gateway effect.

But Jacques, a former assistant district attorney and assistant attorney
general, said she observed many criminal drug cases where marijuana was the
first step to other problems.

"I know it's a slippery slope in the sense that it can be a gateway drug in
that people may use marijuana, and may start dealing it and other drugs,
and also may start committing petty thefts and burglary to support their
habit," she said.

And Sturbridge state Rep. Reed Hillman, the former commander of the
Massachusetts State Police, said that marijuana users were more likely to
ingest other illegal chemicals.

"In and of itself, I think a (criminal) fine is probably appropriate for a
first-time possession charge. In the greater scheme of things it's not as
bad as driving while being drunk, but I...think without question it is a
gateway drug," Hillman said.

Who Goes To Jail?

Both sides agree that few people ever go to jail in Massachusetts for a
first-time marijuana possession charge. In fact, to avoid court and prison
backlogs, most cases are normally continued without a finding, meaning even
the arrest record disappears after a brief probation period.

"I have never seen anyone go to jail for marijuana use," Jacques said.
"Most people don't even have a criminal record from it."

But Epstein says that fact backs the argument that a tremendous amount of
police resources are being wasted pursuing marijuana users for little
reason, instead of imposing a quick civil fine.

"Instead of police officers spending an hour, or two hours, booking a
person, he can be back on the streets in a matter of minutes," Epstein
said. "That's important for public safety."

Hillman said the current system was "kind of a joke" because valuable
police time resulted in little or no sanction against marijuana users. He
said he favored tougher criminal, as opposed to civil, fines, and more use
of measures to take away driver's licenses from people convicted of
marijuana possession.

"You're caught, you walk. For a young person, that would be a real
deterrent," Hillman said.

Marijuana As Medicine

Criminal or not, more and more people in Massachusetts appear comfortable
with measures to allow medicinal uses of marijuana for certain diseases.

State law allows marijuana to be used to alleviate problems stemming from
glaucoma, asthma, and the treatment of nausea from chemotherapy, and was
even backed by then-Gov. William Weld, a former federal prosecutor who said
he had never smoked marijuana himself.

But because the federal government has blocked the state from obtaining any
legal source for the controlled substance, the law has had little practical
effect to date in Massachusetts.

Framingham Rep. John Stefanini, who is pushing to include AIDS patients in
the provision, took a nuanced approach to further decriminalization, saying
lesser sanctions may be in order while more attention was devoted to
cracking down on drug traffickers.

"I think politically and socially (marijuana) is more acceptable because
there are more people who know people who have used it or have themselves
tried marijuana," Stefanini said. "That being said, it doesn't diminish the
need for us to have order and structure. That's why by separating between
use and trafficking, you'll see greater support for that."

Baby Boomer Parents Struggle

Given government studies that show nearly 70 million American have used
marijuana -- about 33 percent of all adults -- parents may have to struggle
with how to reconcile their past experience and present-day values.

Henry Tischler, a professor of sociology at Framingham State College, said
baby boomers are "more discriminating" about not lumping marijuana with
other drugs like cocaine and heroin.

"They do realize that there are very dangerous drugs out there," Tischler
said, "(but) they are less likely to make blanket statements that all drugs
were bad."

At the same time, Tischler also said he was uncertain how he would vote if
faced with the decriminalization proposal.

"If I were to walk into the ballot booth, I would probably stop. I wouldn't
have an automatic answer as to how I would vote," he said. "I'd have to
give it some thought."

Goldman, the political consultant, said "the public is way ahead of where
the politicians are on this issue" and predicted the measure will
ultimately succeed, though it may take a couple of tries. He noted that
ballot questions such as the recycling "bottle bill" and the state's seat
belt law also took a few attempts before winning passage.

And Pillsbury and other backers say they believe more people will embrace
their cause if the issue receives a full airing.

"I think whether we win or lose this particular time around, it does bring
the debate to the forefront," Pillsbury said. "I think any of us could only
ask to intelligently debate this subject."