VOTES ON MARIJUANA COUNTED AT LAST

Congressional Ban Held Up D.C. Referendum

WASHINGTON (AP) - Almost a year after the balloting, voters in the nation's
capital learned Monday that nearly 70 percent of them favored medical use of
marijuana. Votes on their referendum were finally counted after a judge
overruled a congressional ban.

That dosn't mean marijuana is now legal for medical purposes in Washington.
Congress will get at least one more chance at the issue.

As passed, District of Columbia ballot initative 59 would allow doctors to
inform their seriously ill patients of the option of using marijuana to ease
certain symptoms and side effects of treatment related to AIDS and cancer.

"That will allow a patient to bring a physician in to testify in court,
seeking a medical exemption from prosecution under the D.C. Uniformed
Controlled Substances Act," said Wayne Turner, coordinator of the AIDS
Coalition to Unleash Power, a gay rights patient advocacy group. The D.C.
chapter of ACT UP helped collect the signatures of 32,000 registered voters
needed to put the measure on the ballot.

After the proposal is submitted on Capitol Hill, Congress would have 30
legislative days to pass a resolution of disapproval. If it didn't, the
measure would become law.

"Our democracy has not fallen apart because (some) states have medical
marijuana in them," said Mary Jane DeFrank, executive director of the D.C.
area American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to force the ballot counting.

Although 11 of 13 D.C. Council members and Mayor Anthony Williams support
the measure, the White House and the Republican majority in Congress have
cited a lack of conclusive medical research in their opposition.