MEDICAL USE OF POT BACKED

WASHINGTON -- 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 doesn'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 initiative 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.

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.