MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROPONENTS MOVE TOWARD MAINSTREAM

(AP) -- After seeing Washington state voters shoot down a medical
marijuana measure in 1997, Rob Killian tried a new strategy this year:
no tie-dye.

Killian and other medical marijuana proponents realized it wasn't the
prospect of giving sick people the drug that bothered most voters. The
fear was that supporters of the measure secretly wanted to make all
drugs legally available, and not just for the ailing.

So they remade their image. Ties instead of tie-dyed T-shirts. Short
hair. Think suburban moms.

It worked.

By courting the mainstream, medical marijuana proponents succeeded in
getting measures passed last week in Washington as well as Alaska,
Arizona, Oregon and Nevada.

And that, say activists, is the future of the movement.

"I don't fit in well with general drug legalization groups. I don't
wear hemp T-shirts, I don't use drugs ... I'm a bit of a geek,'' said
Killian, a family physician who led the campaign to put the measure on
the ballot. "But part of it was that we were unknown to the public
last year. This time I spent hours with people from both sides of the
political landscape ... that's how we were successful in mainstreaming
the issue.''

Things have changed since 1996, when medical marijuana backers shocked
many -- including federal drug officials -- by getting measures on the
ballot and approved in Arizona and California. Arizona's was put on
hold by legislators but reaffirmed by voters this year.

This year, they were more organized and more sophisticated, attracting
new support from legislators, law enforcement officials and state and
national medical leaders.

Last year, the New England Journal of Medicine editorialized in favor
of medical marijuana and the American Medical Association altered its
policy and voted to urge the National Institutes of Health to fund and
support more research on the subject.

Advocates argue, and some research has suggested, that marijuana can
help some patients, principally by relieving nausea after chemotherapy
or increasing the appetites of cancer and AIDS sufferers. Marijuana
also is touted as helping some patients control glaucoma.

"We're still amateurs and drug policy reform is still a nascent
political and social movement, but we're not rank amateurs anymore,''
said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the New York-based Lindesmith
Center, a research project of billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
Soros and several others funded the measures this year and in 1996.

With their new image and ballot box successes, medical marijuana
proponents say they'll focus next on getting measures passed in other
states, promoting more scientific research.

They also want to make sure the laws are enforced.

After the California measure passed, state Attorney General Dan
Lungren worked with the Justice Department to shut down marijuana clubs.

Now Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa says she won't
enforce her state's new constitutional amendment -- if it's reaffirmed
as required in 2000 -- without federal approval. Oregon officials say
they haven't decided what to do. However, Arizona and Washington
officials have already said they will honor their new laws, and Alaska
officials say they don't prosecute small possession cases and won't
start now.

Federal officials haven't yet decided their next move. While in 1996
they threatened to arrest doctors who prescribe marijuana, Justice
Department spokesman Gregory King said Friday the department will
review the new laws before making any decision.

"Just as we have in the past, we'll make enforcement decisions on a
case-by-case basis,'' he said.

Opponents of the medical marijuana movement say its new mainstream
image can't hide the underlying goal of all-out legalization.

After all, they note, the Arizona measure and the first, failed
Washington measure also legalized other drugs for medical reasons. And
they point to comments Soros and others have made about the country's
failed drug policy and possible alternatives, including limited
decriminalization -- such as making heroin available to addicts in
order to reduce crime and help them kick their habits.

"They've been successful by misrepresenting their intentions and by
preying on the American public's compassion,'' said Barnett Lotstein,
special assistant to Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley in Phoenix.
"If they want to really have a debate on this, why characterize this
as a medical marijuana issue?''

Some medical marijuana backers feel the public is ready for a broader
debate and that voters passed the new measures because they are open
to new drug control strategies.

Others said it shows a growing interest in alternative
medicine.

"Instead of accusing the medical marijuana proponents of not being
scientific, we were the ones not being scientific,'' Dr. John Nelson,
an obstetrician-gynecologist in Salt Lake City and a member of the
AMA's board of trustees, said of the AMA's new position on medical
marijuana. "We were trying to open our minds.''

"There's a whole group of doctors calling for a public health model of
drug addiction, treatment instead of incarceration,'' Killian said.
"There's a lot going on.''

Checked-by: Patrick Henry