MEDICAL 'POT' PETITION IS FAILING, LEADER SAYS

Advocates of legalizing medical marijuana all but conceded defeat
Thursday, saying it was unlikely they had gathered enough signatures
to put a proposal before Arkansas voters.

Denele Campbell of West Fork, treasurer of the Arkansas Alliance for
Medical Marijuana, said it would take "a miracle" for the secretary of
state's office to verify enough signatures for the group's initiative
to qualify for the ballot.

Tim Humphries, attorney for Secretary of State Charlie Daniels, said
the signatures probably would be tallied by the end of today.

"It's not looking good as of this moment," Humphries said
Thursday.

So far, he said, only about half of the names on the alliance's
petition have turned out to be those of registered voters.

The alliance needs 64,456 signatures -- or 78 percent of the ones they
submitted -- to be verified for the proposal to make the Nov. 2 ballot.

Campbell said that as of midafternoon Thursday, only 41,824 signatures
had been verified. Even with more than 24,000 signatures yet to be
counted, there's almost no chance the threshold will be reached, she
said.

This would mark the third time the group or its parent organization,
the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, has tried
unsuccessfully to gather enough signatures to place an initiative
before voters.

The alliance's proposal, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, would
allow Arkansans with "debilitating medical conditions" to use
marijuana on the advice of a physician. The ailing person or a
caregiver would grow it.

The group suffered a major setback in July when the Washington-based
Marijuana Policy Project pulled out of the Arkansas effort. That came
as a surprise to Campbell and her group, but members raised more money
from Arkansas supporters to hire canvassers to try to make up for an
initial shortfall in signatures.

The alliance turned in another batch of petitions Aug. 25 with about
30,000 signatures, but they likely aren't enough, Campbell said.

Still, Campbell said she's been encouraged by her group's "overall
progress" this year.

"We've made huge gains in building our base statewide," Campbell said
in a statement. "Clearly we are on the right track. When fear and
rhetoric are set aside, our work boils down to a simple question: Do
we in Arkansas want to arrest our sick and dying neighbors?"

She said the alliance is in a good position to solidify its support,
educate the public and decide its next step. The group could try again
for a ballot initiative or go back to the Legislature, which has twice
failed to pass a bill.

Larry Page, director of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana, said he
was glad to hear that his opposition apparently has given up for now.
He said he and others will fight any future efforts to legalize
marijuana because such a law would be "a mistake" and bad medical policy.

"It'd be very difficult for law enforcement to get their arms around
the law and prevent abuse," he said.

He said the beneficial aspects of marijuana already are available in
the prescription drug Marinol. But advocates of medical marijuana said
the prescription drug is not as effective at decreasing nausea and
increasing appetite, which they say is the main benefit of marijuana
for people with certain illnesses.

Campbell said she remains optimistic that Arkansans would approve the
measure if it ever makes it on the ballot.

The Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas hired Zogby
International of New York to conduct a poll in 2002. The poll showed
that about 62 percent of respondents answered favorably to a question
about the prospect of "a law that would allow people with cancer and
other debilitating medical conditions to register in a state-regulated
program permitting them to grow and use a limited amount of marijuana
for medical purposes."

An Arkansas Poll, conducted by the University of Arkansas, reported a
similar response in 2001.

The initiative's likely failure would leave four possible proposals on
the Nov. 2 ballot:

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1. Referred to the people by the
Legislature, it would increase the number of terms that legislators
can serve.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 2. Referred by the Legislature, it
would allow the Legislature to issue hundreds of millions of dollars
in bonds financed by state tax revenue to pay for infrastructure
improvements to attract major industries.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 3. Promoted by a petition campaign,
it would bar same-sex unions and declare marriage to be the union of
one man and one woman. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued on
behalf of three Arkansans to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot.

A referred question on whether to raise the minimum property tax rate
for school district operations by 3 mills. The current minimum is 25
mills. A mill is one-tenth of a cent.