POT CAMPAIGN HAS SEEN GREENER PASTURES

With days left in the election, the campaign to legalize marijuana in
Alaska looked winded.

The legalizers had won a morally significant victory, but trailed in
the polls by as much as 30 percent.

At the same time, new radio ads attacked the measure, an Anchorage
Assembly resolution railed against it, and the editorial voices of the
Anchorage and Fairbanks daily papers told readers to vote "no."

Ballot Measure 2 was supposed to be one of the state's best shots at
legalizing pot, and as of earlier this week, it was in danger of
slipping away despite more than a quarter-million dollars the
Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project had spent on ads. One
recent TV commercial left some viewers confused and some pro-pot
supporters frustrated. The spot begins with images of kids smoking
pot. A voiceover intones how regulating marijuana would reduce teen
use. A pamphlet mailed to voters makes similar claims.

Former state representative David Finkelstein, who is treasurer of
Alaskans for Marijuana Regulation and Control, says he wrote the TV
ad. He said the idea was to try and ease what may be the biggest fear
among legalization opponents - more kids picking up pipes if Ballot
Measure 2 passes. "Advertising, in some degree, is getting out one's
own message, but in another degree it's addressing concerns of
voters," Finkelstein said.

Some pro-pot people cringe at the images of a teen lighting up,
wondering if the ad has done more harm than good, particularly when
earlier ads gained momentum by tapping into Alaskans' love for
independence and privacy.

The Yes on 2 campaign did score a win on Monday, October 25. A state
Superior Court judge ruled that Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman's
office violated its obligation to maintain the "non-partisan nature,
integrity, credibility and impartiality" of the elections process by
writing the draft opposition statement to the marijuana measure.

The judge denied Yes on 2's request to post notices at the polling
places, which would have let voters know that Leman and his staff had
violated the law.

As the clock wound down, Finkelstein wasn't making any predictions on
how Ballot Measure 2 will do on Tuesday. If nothing else, he can take
heart that the prospects appeared pretty grim for the Red Sox earlier
this month, too.