MEDICINAL MARIJUANA GAINS SUPPORT

Oregon voters rejected a campaign to send small-time marijuana users to
jail and appeared ready to join voters in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and
Washington state in approving medicinal uses for
pot.

``I think people are tired of building jails and prisons,'' said Lee
Berger, an Oregon attorney who defends people facing charges for using
marijuana as medicine. ``If we have limited jail space we ought to use
it for people who are really threats to public safety.''

With 31 percent of Oregon's precincts reporting, a ballot proposal to
get tough on pot was trailing 67 percent to 33 percent; the medical
marijuana measure was leading 55 percent to 45 percent.

Supporters of these ballot measures say smoking marijuana can ease
pain, bring back appetite, reduce the eye pressure of glaucoma, and
lessen nausea from cancer chemotherapy.

California has legalized marijuana for medical use, and support for
Tuesday's measures came from billionaire philanthropist George Soros
and the California-based Americans for Medical Rights.

Alaska's marijuana measure passed despite an advertising effort by
opponents who enlisted former first lady Barbara Bush.

``We got a late start,'' said Matthew Fagnani, chairman of Alaskans
for Truth on the Medical Marijuana Initiative. ``If we had one more
week and a little more money, we could have turned it around.'' Foes
of the measure warn it will lead to wider drug use.

But the Alaska measure was endorsed by several medical groups,
including the state chapter of the American Medical Association and
the Alaska Nurses Association, who said the initiative's language was
written tightly enough to protect against abuse.

To qualify, a patient will need a doctor's recommendation that
marijuana would help, and the Alaska Department of Health and Social
Services would establish a registry of people entitled to use medical
marijuana. Patients could also get identification cards to protect
against arrest.

Arizona voters repeated their 1996 approval of allowing doctors to
prescribe pot and some other illicit drugs for the seriously ailing.

Nevada voters agreed to change the state constitution and allow people
with catastrophic illnesses such as cancer, AIDS and glaucoma to get
marijuana prescriptions. To take effect, voters must approve the
measure again in 2000, but the issue may not be settled if they do.
The state attorney general's office said it would take no action on
such a measure unless federal law is changed.

The Washington state measure lets patients with certain terminal and
debilitating illnesses, or their care-givers, to grow and keep a
60-day supply of marijuana.

Arizona voters rejected their legislators' requirement that pot first
gain federal approval before the drugs could be prescribed.

Whether Washington, D.C., voters agreed to allow marijuana for certain
illnesses remains unknown.

Election officials chose to conceal results since Congress, which
controls the capital's budget, opposes legalization and cut funding
for the initiative. The American Civil Liberties Union said it would
request the tallies using the Freedom of Information Act.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady