GOVERNOR, DOCTORS, POLICE SPEAK OUT VS. MARIJUANA BILL

ANCHORAGE -- The governor, medical professionals and Alaska
police have denounced a ballot initiative that would legalize
marijuana, saying it could damage everything from schoolchildren to
the state's relationship with the military.

Ballot Measure 2 will go before voters Nov. 2. The measure would make
it legal under state law for people 21 and older to grow, use, sell or
give away marijuana. It would also allow for state regulation and
taxation of marijuana.

Gov. Frank Murkowski on Wednesday an effort is under way to "buy
Alaska" on the issue. He said he appreciated that Alaskans like their
privacy, but there is a common good at stake.

"That is our youth," Murkowski said.

The governor also said the military plays a great role in Alaska and
legalized pot could harm that relationship.

"These are serious considerations for the state of Alaska," he said.

Expanding on that theme, a Murkowski spokesman, Mike Chambers, told
the Anchorage Daily News that the governor was drawing on his
experience serving as a U.S. senator during base closure
proceedings.

Chambers said legalization could be an "aggravating factor" in such
proceedings.

"This could be something that influences someone's decision," he said.
"It's going to have a negative effect on our relationship with the
military."

Chambers said Alaska is also a major training center for the military.

"The fear is that something like this would have a chilling effect on
the training dollars and where they spend them."

Tim Hinterberger, an associate professor for the University of Alaska
Anchorage's biomedical program and a sponsor of Ballot Measure 2, said
it was not until after the initiative got on the ballot that the
Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C., got interested
and started making large financial contributions to the campaign.

"There's no doubt it was a homegrown campaign," he said.

Hinterberger said raising the prospect that approval of the initiative
would impact the military presence in Alaska is a scare tactic.

Dr. Paul Worrell, president of the Alaska State Medical Association, a
private organization with about 600 physician members, said his group
opposes Ballot Measure 2 because members believes marijuana is an
introduction to other drugs and needs to be discouraged as a matter of
public health.

Worrell said he has taken care of hundreds of patients with substance
abuse problems and that almost all said they started with marijuana.
He said he has seen patients who have emphysema, asthma, lung cancer
and other ailments where it is clear to him from talking to them that
the culprit is marijuana.

At least four groups support the measure to legalize marijuana.

One, Alaska Hemp, raised around $108,000, about half of that in
individual donations from hundreds of Alaskans, and spent most of its
money getting the measure on the ballot through the initiative
process, according to organizers.

Another of the groups has been bankrolled with half a million dollars
by the Marijuana Policy Project and has used much of its money on
television and radio advertisements.

Pro-initiative forces say marijuana use is a personal privacy matter,
is not as harmful as alcohol, and that taxing it could be a source of
revenue for Alaska. They also say too many kids already can get their
hands on pot, which is an argument for regulation and other means of
controlling the drug.

Col. Julia Grimes, director of the Alaska State Troopers, and Audie
Holloway, Anchorage Police Department deputy chief, said marijuana is
tied to numerous accidents, injuries and deaths. Holloway said
Anchorage police have had homicides related to marijuana grows and
profits. Legalization, he said, is not just about personal use.

"It's going to have an effect on people who don't use it," he said.