MARIJUANA ISSUES HEAD TOWARD CITY BALLOT

Columbia voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to decriminalize marijuana
use for the seriously ill and for adults who possess less than 35
grams of marijuana. A medical marijuana initiative failed to win
approval as an ordinance last night on a 3-3 vote by the Columbia City
Council, surprising the measure's proponents. Mayor Darwin Hindman was
on vacation.

"If the mayor had been there, it might have been a little different,"
said Sterling Neeb of Columbia Alliance for Patients and Education, or
CAPE. "I'm very surprised. It gives me hope."

Council members voted 5-1 against a second proposal, which would
direct all misdemeanor adult marijuana cases to Columbia Municipal
Court, resulting in a maximum $250 fine. Under state law, misdemeanor
charges involve less than 35 grams of marijuana, about 1 1/4 ounces.

Dan Viets, a Columbia attorney and member of CAPE, told the council
the main reason for sponsoring a decriminalization ordinance is
because under law, if a student is convicted in state or federal court
for a marijuana offense, he or she loses his or her student aid.
Viets' argument failed. "If you accept funds from an agency, you
accept that agency's rules," said Fourth Ward City Councilman Jim Loveless.

The issue that divided the council included testimony from a woman who
said she could benefit from the medical use of marijuana. The medical
marijuana provision calls for a maximum $50 fine and for patients to
have a physician' s recommendations that they use the drug.

Heather De Mian suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare condition
that causes the dislocation of joints, internal bleeding and
gastrointestinal distress. De Mian, 33, piled more than six bottles of
prescription drugs on the podium and told council members the state
pays more than $32,000 a year for her medications although marijuana
would alleviate her symptoms. "If that's not a criminal waste of tax
money, I don't know what is," she said. De Mian said the drugs she
takes now contain a chemical similar to that in marijuana, but because
she has to take it as a pill, she can't keep it down. Smoking
marijuana wouldn't cause that problem, she said. Lana Jacobs, a
founder of St. Francis House and De Mian's mother, said, "It' s so
hard to watch my children suffer when I can't help them." Moved by the
testimony, Loveless said: "I don't have a problem with this. I think
this is something that has been suppressed for purely political
reasons." Third Ward Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Bob Hutton and First
Ward Councilwoman Almeta Crayton fell in line with Loveless. But
Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku voted against the medical marijuana
measure because it didn't address how Columbia arrests would be
handled by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Boone County sheriff's
deputies and University of Missouri-Columbia police.

He had similar concerns with the second marijuana initiative. Crayton
alone favored the second initiative. She said she believes drug laws
can be too hasty in taking away government assistance, such as access
to public housing.

The majority aligned themselves with Sixth Ward Councilman Brian Ash
on the second initiative.

"This one's easier for me to oppose," Ash said. "The biggest concern
is the message we're sending with a slap on the wrist for marijuana.
Some things are probably worse that are legal, and two wrongs don't
make a right, and the horse is out of the barn already."

The city's charter dictates initiative ordinances be placed on the
ballot if they don't receive enough votes for adoption.