PETITIONERS GATHERING SIGNATURES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE

The Legislation Would Legalize Sale Of The Drug To Those In Medical
Need

A petition drive to legalize marijuana has begun to
circulate.

The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp is heading the
effort in hopes to qualify the initiative for the November 2000 elections.

This latest marijuana initiative needs 66,748 signatures to qualify
for a vote, said Paul Stanford, one of the three chief
petitioners.

"But we want to turn in 90,000 to make certain we have enough to cover
for people who sign but aren't registered," he said.

The petition drive began April 19 after getting approval by the
secretary of state elections division on April 2.

Stanford said they hope to finish gathering signatures early so that
they can focus on an ad campaign. The vast majority of money for the
campaign is coming from five Oregon residents, the biggest donor being
a software engineer, Stanford said.

The initiative seeks to replace all current local and state marijuana
laws with the exception of DUII laws. The Oregon Liquor Control
Commission would be changed to the Oregon Cannabis & Liquor Control
Commission and would be in charge of regulation and taxation.

The commission would license marijuana cultivation by qualified
persons and purchase the entire crop. Marijuana would then be sold, at
cost, to medical research facilities and pharmacies who in turn would
sell the marijuana , untaxed, to those with medical need. The
commission would also sell taxed marijuana to people 21 and older
through current state liquor stores.

Ninety percent of the taxes collected would go to the state general
fund, according the initiative. Drug Enforcement Agency statistics
show illicit marijuana sales generate a $2 billion a year industry
nationwide.

One of the chief petitioners is Dr. Phillip Leveque, a retired
professor of pharmacology and toxicology, who became involved with the
issue because of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. The act won voter
approval on Nov., 3, 1998.

Voters in Washington, California, Arizona, Alaska and Colorado also
passed medical marijuana-use initiatives. But Leveque said that
obstacles are still in place that make it very difficult or illegal
for people to purchase marijuana. He believes this initiative would
change that.

"Marijuana is good for AIDS wasting disease, multiple sclerosis,
glaucoma and chronic pain," Leveque said. "Mostly marijuana is a
euphoriate, so it makes people feel better. It has been used for
medicine for 5,000 years."

The legalization effort, be it for medical use or industrial use, has
been opposed in the past by law enforcement agencies around the state.

Law enforcement agencies didn't want to make a statement about the new
initiative until they learned more about it. But Sgt. Rick Gilliam,
campus supervisor of the Eugene police, shared his concerns.

"Marijuana is a gateway drug to harder drugs like heroine, " Gilliam
said. "So I think blanket use is not the answer to the drug problem.
It will only exacerbate it."

Backers of the initiative disagree.

They point to courts in Alaska, Hawaii and Michigan that sight
presidential commission findings and scientific studies on marijuana
that say marijuana is not a "stepping stone" or a "gateway drug."

Another opponent to the legalization of marijuana is House Speaker
Lynn Snodgrass.

"She is opposed and she's always been opposed," Snodgrass' spokesman
Ron Blankenbaker said. "She has a strong religious background and has
an aversion to drug use as such."

But petitioners don't see it as a moral issue so much as an issue of
freedom.

"I truly believe that the future of freedom in America hinges on which
way the war on drugs continues," Stanford said. "We now have more
people incarcerated than any country in the world. To keep one person
in prison for a year for marijuana costs $40,000. On that amount of
money you could go to the University of Oregon or Harvard."