Initiative shifts drug laws

Permits medical use of illegal drugs; releases inmates serving time for
possession

by Lynda V. Maples, Staff writer

SEATTLE Voters will decide in November whether use of marijuana, LSD,
heroin and other drugs should be allowed for medical purposes in Washington
state.

Initiative 685 would also empty state prisons of approximately 500
offenders serving time for simple drug possession.

Future sentences for simple possession would be limited to treatment,
education or community service. Prison would not be an option.

The exception would be drug offenders who commit a violent crime. They
would become ineligible for parole.

Backers say the measure is a way to retool the war on drugs, taking it out
of the hands of politicians and putting it in the hands of physicians.

Opponents called the measure a menace that would reduce children's wariness
of drugs and lead to higher rates of illegal use.

"I would never legalize drugs," said Rep. Mark Sterk, a Spokane Valley
Republican. "I have watched what it does to people's lives."

Both sides agree on one thing: The measure is confusing.

It is tough on crime in one respect, but also sets some prisoners free. It
allows legal use of drugs for medical purposes, but selling, growing or
transporting the drugs would still be illegal.

Seriously ill or terminal patients would be required to obtain written
permission from two physicians that proclaim the use of marijuana, LSD or
other socalled Schedule 1 drugs to treat their disease or relieve their
pain. The doctors also would have to base their recommendation on
scientific evidence.

But patients would be on their own to scrounge the drugs however they
could. In California, where marijuana was legalized for medical use last
year, buyers' clubs have sprung up.

Patients are also allowed to grow their own weed in California, or to
designate one other person to do it for them.

In Arizona, which legalized Schedule 1 drugs for medical use last year,
doctors may legally prescribe the drugs. State lawmakers largely gutted the
measure the following session. Backers of the original measure may petition
the rewrite to referendum.

The California initiative has already sparked a court battle with the
federal government, which controls most drug policy.

Backers of the Washington initiative are frank about their hope to add
momentum to a national political movement to change federal drug law.

One state at a time, they hope to put pressure on the feds.

So far nearly all of the $250,000 being spent to put I685 on the ballot
has come from a private Arizona school, the University of Phoenix, and an
Ohio insurance executive.

"Once we put this on the ballot and that passes, we hope more states do it,
and then the federal government will have to act. They ought to say let
states do what they want with marijuana, period. Let the states
experiment," said Jeff Haley, a Bellvue patent attorney and chairman of a
steering committee backing the initiative.

Robert Killian, a Tacoma physician, is also leading the charge for the
initiative, which he said would finally make sense of Washington's drug
policy.

"We believe the war on drugs has to move from a criminal perspective to a
public health model. Take these drugs out of the hands of politicians and
put them in the hands of doctors," Killian said.

"The war on drugs has been getting in the way of effective pain control,
and research and treatment of addiction. We do not treat pain adequately in
this country. This is an attempt to broaden our choices. Politicians will
never legalize drug use for medical purposes, so it's up to the people,"
Killian said. "Politicians get a lot of points out of sound bites about
being tough on drugs. they lose a lot of points for being soft on drugs.
But this problem is much too tough to be dealt with on sound bites."

For people like Martin Martinez of Seattle, much is at stake.

Martinez has been arrested twice for using marijuana to curb the pain he
still suffers from a motorcycle accident 10 years ago. He goes on trial in
September on possession charges with a potential sentence of up to 30 months.

Washington's Supreme Court reaffirmed that medical use of marijuana is
illegal just last month.

"It's more illegal than ever," said Martinez.

The initiative would help people like him, and doctors who recommend use of
marijuana and other drugs, he said.

"But I685 doesn't protect production or distribution. It's rather a big
problem. But this is still a small step."

About 200 Washington patients obtain marijuana for medical use through the
Green Cross Patient Coop, founded on Bainbridge Island. They do so without
legal protection. Growers for the coop are also at risk. Distributing
drugs through clubs, the Internet, or other means would remain strictly
illegal.

Opponents of the measure want to keep it that way. "They are billing this
initiative as medical marijuana and get tough on crime. But they should
call it the heroin initiative," said Lt. Gov. Brad Owen.

"This is frightening," said Owen, a Democrat. "It will decriminalize LSD,
heroin and marijuana under the banner of compassionate care for the
seriously ill."

Even though a doctor's recommendation would be required for legal use,
reasons for that use are not spelled out in the initiative beyond treating
disease or relieving pain. That's too broad, Owen argued.

"People could use it for anything," Owen predicted. "It's and Schedule 1
drug, for any disease."

Sterk's frustration comes more with the release of lowlevel drug offenders.

"We are sending the wrong message, putting these people back out on the
streets," said Sterk, a city police sergeant running for Spokane County
sheriff. "These are the people who are going to have the most influence on
and contact with our kids."