DRUG OR MEDICINE? MARIJUANA FACES TEST AT U.S. POLLS

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Is marijuana a medicine for the ill or the
"kindergarten of the drug industry" designed to hook people into a life of
addiction and despair?

These two opposing views will compete at the polls next week as voters in
four states and the District of Columbia consider new state initiatives to
allow the medical use of marijuana. For embattled marijuana boosters, the
new proposals in Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada are a ray of
hope in a landscape dark with litigation. While California and Arizona led
the nation in 1996 by passing their own state marijuana initiatives, both
have been effectively quashed by federal suits aimed at keeping marijuana
subject to national narcotics laws.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst