POT MEASURE STEAMS DRUG CZAR

SALEM, Ore. -- A measure on Oregon's Nov. 2 ballot to expand the
medical use of marijuana is drawing fire from state district attorneys
and the White House drug czar, who says it would turn the state 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 -- up to a pound at a time. It
also requires that indigent patients be given free marijuana.

But White House drug czar John Walters, echoing criticism by 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. The others are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii,
Maine, Nevada and Washington state.

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, said Benton County District Attorney Scott Heiser.

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.