JUDGE HEARS MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE

WASHINGTON (AP) Forty-five days after voters in the nation's capital
passed judgment on a medical marijuana initiative, lawyers for the
District of Columbia and the American Civil Liberties Union are
asking a federal judge to let the ballots be counted.

Five states passed referenda Nov. 3 making it easier for seriously ill
people to use marijuana to ease pain or nausea. But Congress in
October barred the district government from spending any money
tallying the results on the initiative here.

"This is democracy held hostage," said AIDS activist Wayne Turner, who
led the petition drive to get the initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Turner is getting legal help from the ACLU, which argues the budget
provision violates the First Amendment right to free speech.

U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts was to hear the case
today.

The Justice Department is defending the authority of Congress to
forbid this city of 530,000 from counting the votes.

The author of the amendment, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., argues, "If the
district wants to move forward with their efforts to legalize
marijuana or other mind- altering drugs, that's their problem. But my
constituents, and obviously the constituents of many other
congressional districts, aren't interested in paying for Washington
D.C.'s folly."

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics was the original defendant, but
it has sided with the plaintiffs in calling for the release and
certification of the results.

"We believe Congress acted in a constitutional way when it said
Congress can't spend any money on it," said Justice Department
spokesman Gregory King.

But King added that while the Justice Department objects to any
attempt to certify the vote, it does not oppose releasing the results
of the ballot.

Turner said that is not enough.

"That's basically turning an election into a public opinion poll,"
Turner said. "This is about the right of the people of the District of
Columbia to have their votes counted and to have them count," he said.

The initiative calls for the legalization of marijuana for people who
are seriously or terminally ill.

Advocates argue that the drug can help some patients, principally by
relieving nausea after chemotherapy or increasing the appetites of
cancer and AIDS sufferers.

Nationwide, medical marijuana proponents succeeded in getting measures
passed this year in Washington state, Alaska, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady