Establishment Votes No On Drug Measure

Officials United Against Initiative 685

By: Danny Westneat
Seattle Times Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. Whatever doubt there was about how the establishment
would react to the citizens initiative to loosen state drug laws has been
dispelled.

After a news conference on Capitol Hill yesterday in which an unusual cross
section of liberal and conservative leaders called for the defeat of
Initiative 685, backers of the measure confirmed that not a single elected
or government official in the state supports their cause.

Not police chiefs. Not liberal Democrats such as former Gov. Mike Lowry
nor Seattle's Congressman Jim McDermott, both of whom say they will vote no
even though they support the use of marijuana for some medical purposes.

Not Republicans at any level of government. Not U.S. Sens. Patty Murray or
Slade Gorton. Not the administration of President Clinton; his chief
drugpolicy adviser, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, yesterday stood with Murray,
Gorton and other local members of Congress and called Initiative 685 a
"subterfuge for legalizing drugs."

And not the state's media establishment. No mainstream newspaper has
endorsed the measure. The Seattle Weekly came out against it yesterday, and
tomorrow The Stranger, Seattle's alternative paper, gives it a lukewarm
endorsement.

All of which perfectly positions the controversial ballot measure heading
into next week's election, its backers contend.

"Of course, elected officials and the establishment are against it, because
we are challenging their failed drug policies," said Rob Killian, the
Tacoma physician who sponsored the initiative. "We knew they would oppose
it because when have politicians ever initiated a new dialogue about
anything important?

"The public will lead on this one, and the public is tired of the lunacy of
the war on drugs."

Initiative 685 would make it legal to possess a certain class of drugs
including marijuana, LSD, heroin and PCP if recommended first by two
doctors and if there were scientific studies saying the drug works as
medicine.

It would also make as many as 400 people now imprisoned for drug possession
eligible to be released; send people who get arrested for drug possession
to treatment, not jail; and deny parole to people convicted of a violent
crime while under the influence of drugs.

The establishment unity against the measure hasn't translated into money
for the opposition campaign. As of yesterday, the opponents' committee had
raised about $90,000, compared to the $1.5 million supporters have gotten
largely from three outofstate millionaires.

After similar initiatives passed last year in Arizona and California,
public officials in those states were criticized for not saying much one
way or another before the vote. To prevent that from happening with
Initiative 685, Empower America, a conservative publicpolicy group started
by Jack Kemp and William Bennett, invited a host of political figures to
condemn the marijuana measure yesterday.

Standing together at the news conference were a group of politicians rarely
seen in agreement on anything: Murray; Rep. Linda Smith, RHazel Dell; Rep.
Norm Dicks, DBremerton; likely GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes;
Rep. Adam Smith, DKent; Bennett; and Gorton.

Gorton said he never takes a position on statewide initiatives, preferring
to leave them to the judgment of Washington voters. But he broke that
policy because he said the measure sends a bad message to kids that
marijuana is OK, and because it was financed by several millionaires who
live out of state.

Later, McDermott announced he too would oppose the measure, even though he
supports the use of marijuana to ease the suffering of cancer and AIDS
patients and agrees that the "war on drugs" is failing and should be
rethought.

"The way the initiative is written will result in many severe unintended
consequences," he said, including potentially worsening the state's
problems with some hard, illicit drugs such as heroin.

All said the measure is too broadly written and goes far beyond established
medical practices.

"This is not about medicine, folks," Bennett said. "This is about smoking
pot. When was the last time your doctor told you to go home, light up some
leaves and suck the smoke down your throat?"

It remains to be seen whether voters will repudiate the views of every
elected official in the state. But Killian said he is hopeful the public
will know intuitively that elected officials are rarely the source of
courageous guidance on controversial issues.

"They are afraid of losing their jobs," he said.

Information from David Postman of the Seattle Times Olympia bureau is
included in this report.