BOARD STILL WILL NOT REVEAL RESULTS OF MARIJUANA VOTE

ACLU Files Freedom of Information Request While Awaiting U.S. District
Judge's Decision

On a day that traditionally is devoted to analyzing election results,
backers of the District's medical marijuana initiative faced another
challenge yesterday: trying to wrest the tallies from D.C. elections
officials.

"We've been through such a battle," said Wayne Turner, who worked more than
a year on the initiative, which would make it legal for seriously ill
people to use marijuana for medical reasons. "This is just another obstacle."

Although the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics tabulated results,
officials would not release them because of a congressional amendment to
the D.C. appropriations bill. It bars the District from spending money on
any initiative that would "legalize or otherwise reduce penalties" for
users of marijuana.

Under current law, possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by
up to six months in jail and a fine of $1,000.

Ballots had been printed by the time the amendment, sponsored by Rep.
Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.), passed on Oct. 21, so voters were able to
choose "yes" or "no" on Initiative 59. Computers likewise were programmed
to count all votes. But D.C. officials said Barr's amendment prevents them
from making the results public.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Friday against the elections
board, seeking an order from U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts that
would require officials to certify the vote so the results can become law.
Yesterday the ACLU asked that the results be turned over under the Freedom
of Information Act. Board officials have 10 days to respond.

Kenneth J. McGhie, an attorney for the elections board, said officials are
concerned that releasing returns would "defy the will of Congress." Instead
of swiftly honoring the ACLU's request, McGhie said he plans to ask the
court for advice.

"The board has a statutory duty to count and announce and certify election
results," McGhie said. "To the extent the Barr Amendment is frustrating
this duty, we will be asking the court for guidance."

Voters in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and Washington state passed similar
initiatives Tuesday, and incomplete returns showed one passing in Oregon.
In Colorado, state officials ruled a marijuana initiative should be taken
off the ballot for procedural reasons. The District was the only place
Congress stepped in, doing so in its role as the final decision-maker on
the D.C. budget. Even if the ACLU prevails in getting election results
released and certified, Congress could still block the law because it has
veto rights over D.C. legislation.

The success of marijuana initiatives shows that Americans want drug
policies based on "science and common sense, not political posturing and
bellicose rhetoric," said Bill Zimmerman, executive director of the Los
Angeles-based Americans for Medical Rights, a group pushing drug law
reforms. "Voters made it clear that they want medical marijuana dealt with
as a health issue, not a criminal justice matter."

Zimmerman said his group sponsored an exit poll of D.C. voters that
concluded the initiative was approved by 69 percent of those who voted on it.

Initiative 59 would change D.C. law to legalize the possession, use,
cultivation and distribution of marijuana if recommended by a physician for
serious illnesses, and would require the District to provide for the safe
and affordable distribution of marijuana to Medicaid patients and other
poor people whose doctors recommend it. Turner and other backers contend
that marijuana can help alleviate the pain associated with such illnesses
as AIDS, cancer and glaucoma.