DISTRICT GETS HOUSE WINS

The House Appropriation Committee yesterday voted to lift a ruling that
blocked District officials from counting the ballots in a referendum on
whether to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

And the daylong debate on the District's 2000 budget yielded a second
victory for home rule advocates: The committee agreed to remove a year-old
provision preventing the city from spending money on a needle-exchange
program for drug users.

Both provisions continue to prohibit use of federal funds for either
initiative but would allow the District to use its money.

"We got two important democracy votes that meant the most to the District,"
said Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city's nonvoting representative in
the House.

The committee agreed to the amendments lifting the restrictions, introduced
by Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, as part of the District's $4.9
million spending package approved yesterday.

"This is thrilling; it's a triumph for democracy," said Wayne Turner,
coordinator of D.C. ACT-UP, an AIDS activist group that has been lobbying
since the November election to get the ballots tallied.

If passed, Initiative 59 would make it legal for people to use marijuana
for medical purposes, such as to enhance appetite or relieve pain. "This is
an issue of creating access for people who are dying of serious illnesses,"
Mr. Turner said.

The initiative probably won't go far, however. Even if it passed, Congress
can overturn it. And observers say Congress is not likely to allow the
District to implement the law.

Many who voted for the amendment said they did not do so to support
legalization of the drug but to protest Congress preventing the District
from tallying the results of a voter referendum.

The D.C. Board of Elections has been prevented from counting the votes cast
in referendum, which was included on the general election ballot.

The results were blocked by an amendment to last year's D.C. budget by Rep.
Bob Barr, Georgia Republican, which forbids the expenditure of any funds on
an election to legalize marijuana.

City election officials estimated it will cost about $1.30 to push a button
on a computer to tabulate the electronic results.

"I think we can let D.C. spend that amount of money without congressional
influence," Mr. Moran said. "This issue is not whether D.C. residents
should be able to use marijuana for medicinal purposes; this issue is
simply do we let D.C. citizens use their own funds to count the ballots of
a local referendum."

Unexpected backing for the amendment came from Rep. Randy "Duke"
Cunningham, California Republican, who stood before the committee and
talked about his son's problems with marijuana.

Todd R. Cunningham was charged in 1997 with marijuana trafficking and
conspiracy to violate drug laws at a Lawrence, Mass., airport. Police said
he flew a plane loaded with 400 pounds of the drug.

"I am vehemently opposed to legalizing marijuana," Mr. Cunningham said.
"But I think when we are talking about a First Amendment right, then it is
wrong for this committee" to block the referendum.

Mr. Moran used statistics on HIV and AIDS infections in D.C. to convince
the committee to approve and amendment that will restore District funding
to the needle-exchange program at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Northwest.

"D.C. is leading the entire nation in the number of new HIV infections, and
they are getting it from drug infections," Mr. Moran said, adding that the
clinic has reduced needle sharing, a common method of transmitting the
disease.

Ernest R. Istook, Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the D.C.
Appropriations subcommittee on the District, argued against Mr. Moran's
amendment and pointed out the $25 million in federal money added to the
District budget to combat drug abuse by repeat criminal offenders.

"Are we declaring a war on drugs or should we instead be voting in favor of
a peaceful coexistence?" Mr. Istook said. "We're not talking about whether
the program can exist. We're talking about whether taxpayer money can be
used for it."

The committee rejected a third amendment from Mr. Moran that would have
allowed the District to extend employment, health and government benefits
to unmarried domestic partners.

The House is expected to vote next week on the D.C. budget, which includes
a $300 million tax cut package as well as a $17 million plan to allow D.C.
school system graduates to pay lower, in-state tuition rates at colleges
across the country.

Republicans probably will try to reintroduce the restrictions on the needle
exchange and the referendum into the legislation, observers say.

"We're going to have to work very hard" to keep the amendments, Mrs. Norton
said.