PETITIONS TARGET LIMITS ON POT LAW;
BACKERS REGROUP, SEEK TO UNDO CHANGES By Mike McCloy,
The Arizona Republic Copyright (c) 1997, Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.

The people who campaigned last year to stop jailing drug
abusers and to legalize marijuana, heroin and LSD as
medicine are back, this time with a new name and two new
petitions.

Arizonans for Drug Policy Reform, renamed The People
Have Spoken, took out referendum petitions Thursday from
the Secretary of State's Office to lift restrictions placed
on Proposition 200 in midApril by the Legislature. Voters
now are being asked to reject an amendment that would give
judges and prosecutors power to send some drug abusers to
jail instead of referring virtually all of them to a
treatment program or probation as Proposition 200 does.

The People's other referendum would reverse legislation
that would require federal testing and approval before the
drugs could be prescribed by doctors under Proposition 200.

"The politicians have said repeatedly that the people of
Arizona are stupid," group spokesman Sam Vagenas said in a
news conference. "We're going to prove that the people are
not so dumb after all."

While gathering signatures on these two referendums,
Vagenas said, The People is preparing a third one that
would bar lawmakers from changing initiatives for two years
after they are passed by the voters.

Sen. John Kaites, RGlendale, sponsor of the amendments
to Proposition 200, said the voters may not have known what
they were passing in 1996 because there was no organized
opposition to expose the initiative completely. Barnett
Lotstein, special assistant to Maricopa County Attorney
Rick Romley, defended the changes made by the Legislature,
noting a Feb. 2 survey by Arizona State University pollster
Bruce Merrill.

Eightyseven percent of those polled said street drugs
should be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
before they are prescribed as medicine.

Kaites and Lotstein said they would seek support from
businesses against The People's referendums.

"We ought to do a better job," Kaites said. "Last time,
they caught us by surprise. They spent $2 million, and
there was no organized opposition."

Dr. John Sperling, chief executive of the University of
Phoenix, said he contributed $300,000 last year to pass
Proposition 200, and will help raise the estimated $100,000
needed for signatures on the referendums.

The People could block the Legislature's changes to the
drugmedicalization law if 56,481 registered voters sign
petitions by July 20, placing the referendums on the
November 1998 general election ballot. If the group misses
the deadline, the restrictions become effective, along with
most other laws passed by the Legislature before it
adjourned Monday.

An emergency bill changing Proposition 200 already is in
effect and is not subject to The People's referendum. This
amendment reduces the estimated 1,000 drug abusers eligible
for release from prison to a few hundred by screening out
those who are dangerous or likely to commit another crime.

"The Legislature gave a gut punch to democracy in
Arizona," said Dr. Jeffrey Singer, chairman of Doctors for
Medical rights and a member of The People.

Also appearing at the news conference was John Norton,
chairman of The People, and former U.S. deputy secretary of
agriculture. The treasurer is Marvin Cohen, former chairman
of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board.

Alex Romero, Arizona delegate to Drug Watch
International, called the referendum "absolute lunacy."

"It goes back to square one," he said. "You can get a
prescription, but you've got to go out in the street to
fill it."