MONEY FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA MEASURE COMES FROM OUTSIDE OREGON

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- The campaign behind a ballot measure that would legalize
the use of marijuana for medical purposes was funded entirely by sources
outside Oregon, according to state finance reports.

Measure 67 is the first initiative to qualify for the ballot without
in-state funding since 1984, when a Georgia lottery ticket-making company
funded the measure that authorized the Oregon Lottery, the Statesman Journal
reported.

"We can deplore it. But it doesn't seem to make a difference," said David
Buchanan, executive director of the political watchdog group Oregon Common
Cause.

The Oregon Supreme Court has overturned most attempts to limit campaign
financing, Buchanan said.

Common Cause has not taken a stand on the marijuana measure, but Buchanan
had this advice for anyone who wants to drum up opposition: "They should say
that this is an outsider initiative. This isn't an Oregon initiative."

The group Americans for Medical Rights, based in Santa Monica, Calif.,
doesn't deny that it is trying to intervene in Oregon's initiative process.

"We are involved in a national effort. There's no question about that,"
spokesman Dave Fratello said.

Because of the group's financing, Oregon and Alaska are certain to vote on
the issue in November. Colorado and Washington state also are expected to
vote on similar measures this fall, but elections officials have not
certified the measures in those states.

Legal wrangling is stalling the initiative from appearing before Nevada and
Maine voters.

The group's goal, Fratello said, is to benefit society.

"This is an effort to help patients in several individual states and to
pressure the federal government," he said.

Fratello's group is largely funded by three men who persuaded Californians
to approve marijuana for medical purposes two years ago.

The three are billionaire philanthropist George Soros of New York, insurance
mogul Peter Lewis of Cleveland, and John Sperling, founder and president of
the University of Phoenix, who lives in Arizona.

Dr. Rick Bayer, a Lake Oswego physician and the chief signature-gatherer of
Oregon's initiative, said none of the three has anything to gain financially.

"It's different from a corporation trying to garner profit," he said. "You
know what matters to me is whether the contributors believe in the cause or
whether they are trying to achieve financial gain."

The medical rights group donated $140,000 to Oregon's cause and $1 million
combined for its efforts nationwide. About $90,000 in debt is outstanding to
pay for signature gatherers in Oregon.

Bayer and others pointed out that an in-state fund-raising drive has begun
and a local group, Oregonians for Medical Rights, has been formed.

But no major public figures in Oregon have rallied behind the cause.

"From the law enforcement perspective, I believe marijuana is a gateway
drug," said Walt Myers, Salem's police chief. "I believe legalizing
marijuana in any manner that would make it more available for drug abuse is
risky."

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett