GROUPS CALL ON GOVERNMENT TO ALLOW MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government should allow medical use of
pot, now that five states have joined the parade by approving ballot
measures on the issue, medical marijuana advocates said Wednesday.

Voters in Washington state, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada and Alaska passed
measures Tuesday allowing medical use of marijuana.

California voters approved the cultivation and use of medicinal
marijuana in 1996.

"The election last night was an incredible victory," Ethan A.
Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, said at a news
conference Wednesday at the nation's capital. "The people have spoken
clearly that this should be available."

Dr. Rob Killian, who sponsored the Washington state measure, said
about 1,200 patients in his state will be helped by the ballot
question. He called on the federal government to make marijuana
available to suffering patients nationwide.

"No one has proven to me why I should be thought of as a criminal
because I give marijuana to my patients," he said.

But federal officials said the state outcomes don't change federal
policy on pot.

"The last time I checked, marijuana was not a healthy substance," said
Jim McDonough, director of strategy at the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. "Marijuana is actually a harmful substance."

McDonough said the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of
Sciences is studying whether marijuana could be used as a medicine.
The Food and Drug Administration and Institutes of Health also would
undertake rigorous studies before marijuana is approved for medicinal
use.

"Allowing marijuana or any other drug to bypass this process is
unwise," the office said in a statement Wednesday.

Supporters of the state ballot questions say that smoking pot can ease
pain, restore appetite and quell nausea for seriously ill patients.

The measures on state ballots Tuesday were backed by New York
billionaire philanthropist George Soros and the California-based
Americans for Medical Rights.

In Colorado and Washington, D.C., the question of legalizing marijuana
for medical use also appeared on ballots.

But Colorado Secretary of State Vikki Buckley ruled that medical
marijuana backers fell more than 2,000 signatures short in their
petition drive, so the vote didn't count.

In D.C., Congress imposed language that would have prevented the
referendum from taking effect, had it passed. Then, under pressure
from Congress, the city's board of elections decided not to release
the results of the vote.

But backers said their own exit polls showed the question carried in
Colorado and Washington, D.C.

They were especially pleased with a separate Oregon vote, which they
called a turning point in American attitudes about criminalization of
marijuana.

The Oregon voters rejected a measure that would have made possession
of less than an ounce of marijuana a class C misdemeanor, with
possible jail time. The offense is now equivalent to a traffic ticket.

"The people have begun to feel that we have overly criminalized the
possession of small amounts of marijuana, that we don't want people
like that filling up our jail cells," said Bill Zimmerman, director of
Americans for Medical Rights.

Medical marijuana backers plan ballot initiatives in Maine next year,
in Colorado in 2000 and again in Nevada in 2000, because Nevada law
requires a second approval before the initiative can take effect.

The backers said they will seek votes in Massachusetts, Florida,
Michigan and Ohio in 2000 if federal officials fail to make progress
on loosening their medical marijuana policy.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry