VOTERS FAVORING MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVES

WASHINGTON--With a week to go, polls show that voters in at least four
states and Washington, D.C., are poised to allow marijuana to be used
legally as a medicine--ignoring the years-long and escalating opposition of
the Clinton administration.

"It certainly is plausible that we can win everything" in this year's
balloting, said Dave Fratello, a Californian whose organization, Americans
for Medical Rights, organizes medical marijuana initiatives around the
country.

The group's private polling, Fratello said Monday, squares with newspaper
polls showing the measure ahead across the board, with the favorable
numbers rising toward 60%.

With a ruling expected any day on the fate of the measure in
Colorado--possibly making it the fifth state and the sixth jurisdiction to
vote on the issue Nov. 3--medical marijuana advocates show no sign of
surrendering to the federal government. Federal anti-drug officials,
cracking down even harder as a result of the success of two such ballot
measures in 1996, are not relenting either.

Marijuana has been banned from the federal list of legal drugs for a
quarter-century on the theory that it is a dangerous narcotic that has only
doubtful value as a medicine. Repeatedly, federal officials have rebuffed
efforts to relax that ban.

Advocates of the practice, though, are striking back--directly in Arizona
and with new initiatives in a widening campaign that will continue into
1999 and 2000, with petition-signing drives already underway in at least
two more states.

This year, voters in Alaska, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state and
Washington, D.C., also will vote on the question--as will voters in
Colorado, if the proposal survives a late court challenge.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson