MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE PASSES

HELENA -- Montanans suffering from certain medical conditions will be
able to legally smoke marijuana to ease their symptoms come January
1.

The Medical Marijuana Act in Initiative 148 passed by a 64 to 36
percent margin Tuesday with 103 of 887 precincts reporting. The new
act will protect patients, their doctors and their caregivers from
state and local arrest and prosecution for the medical use of marijuana.

Teresa Michalski of Helena couldn't be happier. Michalski once lived
in fear that her late son, Travis, would spend the last few months of
his short life in jail for using medical marijuana during the end
stages of Hodgkin's disease.

"I knew the people in Montana were compassionate and I could count on
them," said Michalski, a fifth generation Montanan.

U.S. Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns, however, warned Montanans that
federal law trumps state law, and said during a recent visit to
Montana that no state initiative permitting the medical use of
marijuana can circumvent the federal law prohibiting the possession
and use of marijuana.

"There's no safe harbor," Burns said.

But Paul Befumo, treasurer of the Marijuana Policy Project of Montana,
said he's "elated" at the results.

"People don't have to worry about being criminalized any more," he
said.

Proponents say smoking the plant relieves nausea, increases appetite,
reduces muscle spasms, relieves chronic pain and reduces pressure in
the eyes. It can be used to treat the symptoms of AIDS, cancer,
multiple sclerosis and glaucoma, among other diseases, they say.

Medical marijuana has been approved by voters in Alaska, California,
Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. In Hawaii, a law was
passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor in 2000. In
Vermont, a law was passed by the Legislature and allowed to become law
without the governor's signature in May 2004, the Marijuana Policy
Project reports.

The Montana measure was financially backed by the national Marijuana
Policy Project out of Washington, D.C.