ANTI-DRUG GROUP JOINS FIGHT AGAINST MEDICAL MARIJUANA

LANSING - A team of top national anti-drug officials joined the
late-starting campaign to defeat Michigan's medical marijuana
initiative this morning, telling reporters Proposal 1 is a dangerous
drug legalization scheme being pushed by outsiders that will lead to
higher rates of addiction and despair.

John Walters, a Michigan native who heads the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, said marijuana has no legitimate medical
use.

Medical marijuana laws simply "make it easier for addicts to stay
addicted," he said.

Walters is in the state through Wednesday, traveling to events with
representatives of the anti-Proposal 1 campaign from law enforcement
and medical organizations in an effort to make the case that approving
medical marijuana will make it almost impossible to control
cultivation, distribution and sales of the drug.

Appeals Court Judge Bill Schuette, co-chairman of Citizens Protecting
Michigan's Kids, said Proposal 1 is a "risky scheme" that could lead
to the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries as it has in California.

Backers of the proposal argue that legalizing marijuana possession and
use for controlling pain among those with serious illness and under
the supervision of a physician is compassionate. Michigan's proposed
law, placed on the ballot by a petition drive that was funded by a
national pro-legalization group, is unlike the California law and does
not authorize marijuana dispensaries, according to the group Michigan
Coalition for Compassionate Care.