MICROSOFT MILLIONAIRE BOOSTS MARIJUANA-INITIATIVE DRIVE

OLYMPIA - A group that wants marijuana to be as legal and readily available
as whiskey says it has secured financial support from a retired Microsoft
millionaire to help put an initiative before legislators and perhaps voters
next year.

The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp says it already has
received $110,000 from the Seattle software programmer, whose identity it
declined to reveal at a news conference yesterday.

The group said it plans to release the benefactor's name next month, in
compliance with state campaign-finance-disclosure requirements. A spokesman
said the millionaire has pledged $200,000 more to ensure the campaign can
pay a professional firm to collect the 180,000 signatures needed by the end
of the year to submit Initiative 229 to the Legislature.

If lawmakers approve the initiative, it would become law. But the
Oregon-based sponsors expect the Legislature to ignore the measure, which
would mean it would be referred to voters in November 2000.

The initiative, dubbed the Cannabis Tax Act, calls for marijuana to be sold
only in state liquor stores, and for state licensing of farmers who grow it.
It's considered one of the most ambitious marijuana-legalization efforts in
the country.

"We're urging everyone to come out of the closet and support this effort,"
said Paul Stanford, the group's executive director, who said he smokes
marijuana "occasionally."

Stanford said he is setting up an office in Seattle's University District.

The initiative's substantial financing might give it the momentum that has
been missing from past legalization initiatives in Washington that failed to
qualify for the ballot, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director for the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"Even with almost no money, grass-roots organizers working on marijuana
reform have done pretty well," said St. Pierre, who is based in Washington,
D.C. "But they don't have good record-keeping and sometimes will not have
crossed every T and dotted every I.

"Thankfully, this kind of money makes it possible to have professionals on
hand."

David Brine, spokesman for Secretary of State Ralph Munro, the state's chief
elections officer, said the dollars would likely help the cause.

"We've always said the key ingredients for a successful ballot initiative
campaign are, first, an idea or issue that has people angered or interested.
The second is a network of people, and the third thing is money," Brine said.

"The more you have of the third thing, the less you need of the first two."

The Campaign for Restoration and Regulation of Hemp is sponsoring a similar
initiative in Oregon, Stanford said. With $15,000 in contributions, the
campaign said it already had collected more than 13,000 signatures as of
last Friday.

Stanford is a 1982 graduate of The Evergreen State College, a former letter
carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and a former importer of hemp fabric.

The Washington initiative may attract support in Seattle and other urban
areas, Stanford said, but likely will struggle in Eastern Washington.

"It's going to be tougher there, but when you look at it, all the facts are
on our side," Stanford said, citing medical research that shows marijuana
can be beneficial in treating some conditions, and statistics that show most
pot smokers are employed. "We think the only way to lose this is if voters
aren't educated."

It also will be difficult to secure support from politicians here.

"Gov. (Gary) Locke has supported the medical use of marijuana, but he does
not believe the recreational use of the drug is appropriate," said Locke's
spokesman, David Chai.

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a crusader against drugs, is sure to denounce the
initiative, said his aide, Nathe Lawver.

Sponsors say they are confident the measure, if passed, is crafted in a way
that will stand up to any court challenge.

They say their proposal could raise millions for state coffers. Under the
initiative, 90 percent of marijuana-sale revenues would go to the state
general fund, 8 percent to drug-treatment programs; 1 percent to a
drug-education program for school children; and 1 percent to finance a
committee to promote industrial hemp fiber.

The initiative also might clear up some of the uncertainties surrounding a
medical marijuana initiative that passed last year, Stanford said.

That law allows qualified patients, with documentation from their doctors,
to possess a 60-day supply of marijuana. But the law is silent on how
patients who can't grow their own might get marijuana, because selling and
distributing the drug is illegal.

The initiative also would:

- -- Limit the sale of marijuana to adults over 21 and allow the state to tax it.

- -- Allow farmers to grow industrial hemp without a license.

- -- Allow doctors to provide cannabis through pharmacies for medical purposes.

Supporters say it also will protect children. "We will take the lucrative
marijuana market out of the black market, where children and substance
abusers often control it today," the campaign's literature says.

A 1998 statewide survey about risky behavior in grades six, eight, 10 and 12
indicated marijuana use has risen significantly among all but sixth-graders.

Dionne Searcey's phone message number is 360-236-8268.