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If the Legislature does not legalize marijuana for
medicinal purposes, advocates of the drug are prepared to
ask voters to do it.

That's what happened in Arizona and California, where
voters last November passed medical marijuana laws.
California Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, twice vetoed
medical marijuana laws before voters approved it last year.
Maine's former governor, John McKernan, also a Republican,
vetoed a measure here in 1991.

Medical marijuana advocates across the country have
noticed the parallel, and may target Maine soon.

''We have announced we're going to support local efforts
in three to six states in 1998,'' said Dave Fratello, of
Americans for Medical Freedom, the organization that
sponsored California's initiative. ''We're monitoring the
situation in Maine.''

He explained that his group, which receives financial
support from George Soros, a billionaire originally from
Hungary, is targeting an East Coast state, and that Maine
is one of the few that permits citizens to place questions
on the ballot.

Medicinal marijuana advocates in Maine are considering
similar actions.

Maine Citizens for Medical Marijuana, an offshoot of
the Maine Vocals, already has begun a petition drive to
place a question on the ballot legalizing marijuana for
medicinal purposes. Bryan Clark, a 23yearold Maine man
who uses marijuana to combat the nausea caused by AIDS and
has testified before the Maine Legislature about the issue
three times, said he hopes lawmakers approve the measure
before the voters do.

But if the question ends up before the voters, Clark is
ready to work for its passage.

''I know I could get a public initiative through,'' said
Clark, who contracted the virus that causes AIDS from
contaminated blood in the medicine he uses to control his
hemophilia.

Rand Martin, chief of staff to California state Sen.
John Vasconcellos, who sponsored the legislation that
Wilson vetoed, said laws written by legislatures are
generally better than ones generated by citizen initiative.

But, he said, the people sometimes have to take the
lead.

A February poll commissioned by the Lindesmith Center, a
New Yorkbased marijuana advocacy organization which also
receives money from Soros, found that 60 percent of
Americans favor allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana
for medicinal purposes for seriously ill patients. NOTES:
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