GROWING CRUSADE TO LEGALISE MARIJUANA

CAMPAIGNERS for changes in America's marijuana laws hope a court appearance
today of Oliver Stone, the film director, will help their growing crusade.

Stone, 53, is to appear in Beverly Hills charged with drunk driving and
possession of hashish after police stopped his car on a Los Angeles canyon
road. More than 700,000 people were arrested last year for marijuana
offences and there are 60,000 people in jail, says Chuck Thomas of the
Marijuana Policy Project.

Mr Thomas said: "The situation is getting out of hand and it is time the
laws for possession of marijuana were eased. We hope that Oliver Stone's
court appearance will bring attention to the problem and increase the
pressure on politicians to change the law."

He said that many of those jailed as dealers were growing plants or keeping
supplies only for their own use. Stone, whose films include Platoon,
Natural Born Killers and Nixon, also wrote Midnight Express, about an
American jailed in Turkey for smuggling cannabis.

Politicians are beginning to heed the calls for a change in the marijuana
laws, prompted by voters in California and Arizona who passed laws allowing
the cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes. But federal drug agents
are closing down the "cannabis clubs".

Campaigners for a change in the law were given a donation of pounds 300,000
by George Soros, the billionaire financier, and there are several dozen
clubs selling marijuana to those with Aids, cancer and other illnesses in
five states. Federal authorities contend that a state law allowing
marijuana cultivation cannot take precedence over federal drug laws.