GROUP HIGH ON POT REFORM BID

The folks who sponsor Boston Common's annual Hempday are taking their drive
to decriminalize marijuana to the ballot box.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition today plans to file seven
potential ballot questions - including one that would make it legal to deal
pot - with Attorney General Thomas Reilly.

``The prosecution of adults for marijuana crimes is a phenomenal waste of
our tax resources,'' Bill Downing, president of Mass Cann, the local
affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
said yesterday.

A separate group late yesterday filed a series of ballot questions that
would require the state to treat drug offenders rather than locking them up
- - no matter what the drug.

``Drug abuse is principally a health problem, not a criminal justice
problem,'' said Tom Kiley of Cosgrove, Eisenberg and Kiley, the front man
for that ``loose group of children of the '60s'' that is pushing the
treatment question.

Downing said Mass Cann plans to file a host of ballot questions today to
meet the deadline for submitting year 2000 initiative petitions to Reilly.

Reilly has until Sept. 1 to rule on the constitutionality of the petitions
and publish the official wording of the ballot questions.

Downing said his group will decide which measure to push after they read
Reilly's wording.

Among the options on the table:

Expanding the state's medical marijuana program to allow anyone with a
certificate from the state Department of Public Health to possess marijuana
legally.

Making getting caught with a joint a violation - like a speeding ticket -
not a crime.

Allowing adults to grow up to seven weed plants or possess 16 ounces of pot.

Making it legal to sell marijuana as long as you pay taxes on it.

Massachusetts already has a medical marijuana program on the books, but it
is dormant because the Department of Public Health can't get access to a
federally approved, research-grade marijuana.

Still, the health department doesn't want anything to do with Downing's
plans to allow patients to get their own pot.

``We would not want to be any part of approving distribution of anything
that is not approved by the federal government,'' Deputy Public Health
Commissioner Paul Jacobsen said.

Other groups have begun petition drives to lower the income tax rate from
5.95 to 5 percent; amend the state constitution to create a school voucher
program for parochial schools; guarantee Bay State residents affordable
health care and the right to choose their own doctors. Other petitions
expected to be filed by today's deadline include measures to take down
turnpike tolls; ban greyhound racing; and raise the minimum wage.

The petition drives still have a long way to go. They have until Nov. 17 to
gather the 57,100 needed to put the questions before the Legislature. They
must also gather another 9,517 signatures next year to get the questions on
the 2000 ballot.