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: Rolf Ernst