MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION MEASURE FAILS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A proposition to legalize the use and sale of marijuana
was rejected by Alaska voters Tuesday night, but supporters said it would
not be the end of their efforts to change the law.

With 319 of 439 precincts reporting, 123,164 voters - about 57 percent -
voted against the measure. Yes votes totaled 92,537, or about 43 percent.

Wev Shea, a former U.S. attorney and a vocal opponent of the initiative,
said he was pleased the measure failed despite proposition boosters raising
more than $850,000, much of it money from outside Alaska.

"It just shows that Alaskans are independent ... and the state of Alaska
should not be an experiment for outside interests," Shea said.

Ballot Measure 2 proposed trading prohibition for state regulation, much as
the state regulates alcohol, and taxing its sales.

Advocates contended it was a logical alternative to expensive and
unsuccessful enforcement of current marijuana laws.

Opponents argued it would put children at risk and complicate liability
issues for employers.

Tim Hinterberger, treasurer of the campaign for the initiative, said
backers of the measure would examine the returns to find out where and why
it failed.

"It can't be the end of it. A large minority that wants a change in
policy," Hinterberger said. "I think if all of the voters had the correct
information, we would have won."

Alaskans have a varied history with marijuana. In 1975, a state Supreme
Court decision made it legal to possess small quantities in the privacy of
a home.

In 1990, voters chose to make possession a crime, a law that stayed in
place until last year when the state Court of Appeals ruled that Alaskans
had the right to possess up to four ounces of pot in their homes for
personal use.

Marijuana advocates in 1998 used the initiative process to win passage of a
medical marijuana law.

Advocates of the Ballot Measure 2 had to sue Lt. Gov. Loren Leman - the
state's head of the Division of Elections - to accept required signatures
on their petitions. They sued him again this month after it was revealed
that his chief of staff had written the opposition statement in the state's
Official Election Pamphlet.

An Anchorage Superior Court judge ruled that Leman's staff wrongly drafted
the statement of opposition, but no further action was warranted because,
in part, a physician had taken authorship of the statement.

Also, voters Tuesday were deciding whether to change the requirements for
placing an initiative on the ballot.

With 319 precincts reporting, yes votes outnumbered no votes 105,423 to
100,084, or 51 percent to 49 percent.

The measure would require signatures come from three-quarters of the
state's House districts, instead of the two-thirds now required.

Additionally, seven percent of the voters in each of those districts must
sign instead of one from each. The total number of statewide signatures -
10 percent of voters - would remain the same.

Supporters say changing the requirements would make ballot initiatives more
inclusive representative of voters across the state, and that the law now
is skewed so that signatures can be collected in the state's largest cities
with little to no input from smaller communities.

Opponents of the measure say the ballot system is not perfect, but making
it more difficult for Alaskans to advance initiatives is not the answer.
They call the changes drastic and unnecessary.