MEDICAL POT MEASURE IGNITES OPPOSITION

SALEM - A measure on the Nov. 2 ballot to expand the medical use of
marijuana is drawing fire 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" on Oregon voters and a back
door 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 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 was approved by the state's voters in November
1998. Oregon is among nine states with medical marijuana laws.

Possession Limit Disputed

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 6 pounds of marijuana per year to qualified
patients, although they could possess only 1 pound at any given time.

The current possession limit is 3 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 that; 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 6 pounds of marijuana a year
plus 10 mature plants.

That would give patients enough pot to smoke a joint every hour, 24 hours a
day, 365 days a 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.

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

Pot Activist Opposes Measure

Also opposing Measure 33 is Stormy Ray, a 48-year-old multiple sclerosis
patient who was a leading spokeswoman for the 1998 measure authorizing
medical marijuana. Ray said she is worried the measure could end up
undermining the existing medical marijuana program.

"I've spent years helping with the development of Oregon's medical
marijuana program," Ray says in a Voters' Pamphlet statement. "No one has
the right to jeopardize our program."

Walters, the White House drug czar, said the federal government wouldn't
sit by and watch Oregon create a system of dispensaries that would dole out
6 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.

For Angelique Yeakle, one of 10,000 Oregonians who hold state-issued cards
allowing them to possess marijuana for medical reasons, the issue boils
down to making what she considers a humane law work even better.

Yeakle, who suffers from lupus - a disease that attacks the body's immune
system - said smoking marijuana has greatly improved her quality of life by
restoring her appetite and relieving body spasms.

"People shouldn't have to suffer when they don't have to," she said.