LEGAL POT INITIATIVE FAILS TO MAKE BALLOT

Supporters Of The Effort Are Short 40,000 Signatures But Say They Will
Try Again.

MARYSVILLE - Count Donna Messick of Marysville among the disappointed
Thursday at learning an initiative to legalize marijuana won't be on
the ballot.

She signed a petition for Initiative 1068 but not enough others did as
sponsors said they came up roughly 40,000 signatures shy of the
241,000 needed to qualify. Today is the deadline for initiative
petitions to be filed.

"It was a disappointment because I think it is something we should
address in this state," she said. "We're tying up our courts with
enforcement of something that I feel isn't that much different than
alcohol."

Messick, 61, figured voters deserved a chance to decide if the state
should start treating marijuana use by adults in the manner it does
liquor "but not enough others agreed."

Initiative 1068 was one of the most sweeping marijuana reform efforts
playing out around the country this year. It proposed to make it legal
for those ages 21 and older to possess, grow, smoke and sell marijuana.

Sensible Washington, the group behind the effort, will try again next
year, said Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle medical marijuana attorney who
wrote the measure.

"We've been the little engine that could, and we didn't," he
said.

It was prompted in part by Hiatt's frustration at seeing medical
marijuana patients arrested in the state. Proponents also argued that
in a time of severe budget woes, it would save the state millions of
dollars a year in state law enforcement and prison costs.

Filed in January, sponsors encountered a litany of challenges while
picking up scant support from the powerhouses in the state's
progressive establishment. The state Democratic Party endorsed it
during its convention last weekend -- too late to do the campaign much
good, Hiatt said.

A printing error cut part of the initiative's text and forced the
recall of many of the petitions it first issued, and eight banks
refused to handle the campaign's online contributions because of its
association with marijuana, Hiatt said.

Fundraising efforts proved futile, and the campaign couldn't afford to
hire professional signature gatherers.

The Service Employees International Union expressed an interest in
hiring signature gatherers to ensure its place on the ballot -- both
because the union believed it to be good policy and because research
showed it could significantly boost progressive turnout in November,
Local 775 Vice President Adam Glickman said earlier this month.

But the union ultimately stayed on the sidelines because the American
Civil Liberties Union of Washington declined to support the measure.

The ACLU argued it was irresponsible to remove criminal penalties for
marijuana without also creating a state regulatory system. Initiative
backers said there was no way to legalize marijuana and create a
regulatory system without violating state law saying that initiatives
can only cover one subject.

Hiatt said the campaign had figured that if the initiative passed,
state lawmakers would rush to regulate and tax marijuana.

"This is the No. 1 populist issue in the country right now," Hiatt
said. "It's a shame we wound up having to fight the ACLU. If it hadn't
been for them, we'd be on the ballot."

Doug Honig, a spokesman for the ACLU of Washington, defended the
organization's decision, saying, "We strongly support the idea of
legalization, and we'll work for that.

"With campaigns that don't get enough signatures, it's a good idea to
look inwardly instead of blaming others," he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.