EXPANDING MEDICAL-MARIJUANA LAW WOULD CREATE DRUG HAVEN, CZAR SAYS

An Oregon Measure Is An Attempt To Legalize Pot, He Says

A measure on Oregon's Nov. 2 ballot to expand the medical use of
marijuana is drawing criticism from the White House drug czar, who
says it would turn Oregon into a "safe haven for drug
trafficking."

Measure 33 would make it easier for ailing people to obtain marijuana
and allow them to possess more of it.

But White House drug czar John Walters, echoing the criticism of
Oregon's district attorneys, calls Measure 33 a "fraud" against Oregon
voters and a backdoor attempt to legalize marijuana.

"People are being played for suckers," Walters said in an interview
from Washington, D.C. "Their compassion for sick people is being used
to do something that's destructive for the state."

Proponents say, however, that Oregon's current program is too
restrictive and that Oregonians already have shown that they support
allowing ill people to have the drug by overwhelmingly approving the
1998 law.

The chief petitioner for the measure is John Sajo, a longtime
marijuana activist who sponsored an unsuccessful 1986 ballot measure
to legalize marijuana. But he said that isn't the issue in Measure
33.

"Our opponents don't have any good arguments against medical
marijuana, so they call this a legalization measure. That is
nonsense," Sajo said.

Measure 33 would represent a significant expansion of Oregon's
medical-marijuana program, which the state's voters approved in
November 1998. Oregon is among nine states with medical-marijuana laws.

Under Oregon's current law, qualified patients are allowed to grow and
use small amounts of marijuana without fear of prosecution as long as
a doctor says it might help their condition.

The measure on the Nov. 2 ballot would create state-regulated
dispensaries authorized to supply up to six pounds of marijuana per
year to qualified patients, although they could possess only one pound
at any given time.

The current possession limit is three ounces, an amount that advocates
say is too low and often leaves patients scrambling to find enough
marijuana to ease their suffering.

The initiative also would expand the number of health-care
professionals who can recommend marijuana for their patients. Right
now only physicians and osteopaths can do so; the measure would give
licensed naturopaths and nurse practitioners that authority as well.

The Oregon District Attorneys Association opposes Measure 33 mainly
because of the provision allowing patients to possess six pounds of
marijuana per year plus 10 mature plants.

That would give patients enough pot to smoke a joint every hour, 24
hours per day, 365 days per year, Benton County District Attorney
Scott Heiser said.

"This is not about medicine; this is about recreational use of dope,"
Heiser said.

Heiser also objects to the measure because it requires free marijuana
for indigent patients.

"Under this measure, the Benton County Health Department would be
required to give away free dope to indigent users at taxpayer
expense," he said.

The Oregon Medical Association, representing more than 7,000
physicians statewide, has paid for a page in the state Voters'
Pamphlet to urge Oregonians to vote "no" on Measure 33.

"It is a thinly disguised effort to legalize the use of marijuana
without any medically scientific justification," it said.

The association said that safer, synthetic derivatives of marijuana
are available to patients and that studies have shown that smoking
marijuana can damage people's lungs.

Walters, the White House drug czar, said that the federal government
wouldn't sit by and watch Oregon create a system of dispensaries that
would dole out six pounds of marijuana to patients each year. Such a
system would be wide-open to abuse by drug users and sellers, he said.

"We do not intend to let any part of the United States become a safe
haven for drug trafficking," Walters said. He declined to elaborate on
what steps the federal government might take in that case.