FL-MEDICAL MARIJUANA

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Opponents of a statewide initiative to legalize
marijuana for medicinal use proclaimed victory Thursday, but supporters of
legal pot said their campaign is far from over.

The Drug Free America Foundation hailed failure of supporters to submit
petitions by a deadline earlier this month for getting proposed state
constitutional amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot.

``They were unable to muster any semblance of an organized campaign,'' said
Terry Hensley, the anti-drug use foundation's executive director, in a news
release. ``Our education efforts must be working.''

Such celebration was premature, though, countered Toni Leeman, chairwoman
of Floridans for Medical Rights. She said the Fort Lauderdale-based group
is aiming to place the marijuana legalizing measure on the state ballot in
2000, not this year.

``They cannot `defeat' an initiative that's not on the ballot, so this
`victory dance' is inane,'' Leeman said. ``When we gather the 435,000
signatures, then it will appear on the ballot, and they can do nothing
about that.''

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Tim Moore disputed
Leeman's year 2000 scenario.

``That'd be my story, too, if I'd failed miserably,'' Moore said.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press.