MARTZ OPPOSES MARIJUANA INITIATIVE

HELENA - Gov. Judy Martz has penned an op-ed piece urging Montana
voters to defeat a measure to legalize medical marijuana in the state.

In the opinion sent to news media Friday, Martz said Initiative 148
ignores years of drug prevention efforts and discounts medicinal
alternatives to "smoking a crude weed."

"Efforts to promote the myth of 'medical' marijuana severely dilute
the message that marijuana is dangerous and can have serious
consequences," Martz wrote.

The initiative, similar to measures already approved by voters in nine
states, would protect patients, their doctors and their caregivers
from arrest and prosecution for possessing certain amounts of
marijuana for medical purposes.

Paul Befumo, of the Medical Marijuana Project of Montana, said Friday
that he was disappointed by what he characterized as Martz's
"outrageous" comments.

"For a lame duck governor who doesn't seem to be informed at all about
the science that underlies this whole issue, I don't see what the
point of her getting involved is," Befumo said