POT INITIATIVES ON THEIR WAY TO CITY BALLOT

Two initiatives to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana will likely appear before Columbia voters on Nov. 2.

It's unlikely the Columbia City Council will approve the measures in
August, acknowledges one of the petition's organizers, Dan Viets. That
means voters would have to decide.

"A few years ago, we had a city council that would have passed these
ordinances," he said.

When the matter came before council last year, only then-councilman
John Coffman voted yes. "It's easier for any politician to pass the
buck to the voters in this type of situation than to risk taking a
controversial position," Viets said.

A third initiative petition, which would increase the city's purchase
of green energy through 2022, has fallen short by 138 signatures. But
petitioners still have 10 days to collect additional signatures to be
placed on the Nov. 2 ballot, said Sheela Amin, the Columbia's city
clerk. Petitioners are collecting additional signatures to shore up
the gap.

Supporters of all three initiatives had to collect 2,276 valid
signatures each of registered Columbia voters. The first pot
initiative, which would allow patients to possess misdemeanor amounts
of marijuana with a physicians' permission, received 412 extra
signatures. Receiving 121 extra signatures was the second initiative,
which directs misdemeanor marijuana arrests be handled only in
municipal court, with a fine of up to $250 and educational classes but
no state court record. In both cases, only adults would be affected by
the ordinances.

The initiatives will be placed before the city council on Aug. 16. If
the council doesn't adopt them, voters will have their say this fall.

Viets said he would rather have it that way anyway.

"Frankly, I would prefer to see the voters pass this," Viets said.
"The voters are the ultimate authority."

On April 8, 2003, voters defeated a similar initiative 10,461 to
7,629.

What makes the issue's chances any better this time?

"I think they're better because of the demographics of the election
and who's voting," said Viets, a board member of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "Obviously, there will
be more people voting this November than who have voted in the last
four years. The people who tend to vote in presidential elections are
younger and are more sympathetic to our position."

One unknown variable will be whether the marijuana initiatives will
draw organized opposition.

Last year, Jefferson City-based Missouri Association of Community Task
Forces spent $3,000 to defeat the marijuana initiative. In November,
the group was fined $1,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission on
grounds it didn't properly identify itself in an advertisement and for
filing campaign disclosure documents late. The group's executive
director, Peggy Quigg, left the organization after the fine, but she
said the fine wasn't the reason for her departure.

It's uncertain whether the group will rejoin the fight.

"Right now, MoACT doesn't have any position" on the marijuana
initiatives, said Connie Berhorst, the organization's director of
field services and support. "This is one item of discussion for our
group."

She declined to comment further.

As he did last year, Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm is opposing the
marijuana initiatives.

One conflict Boehm can see is the city's ordinance would contradict
state laws.

"The FDA hasn't approved the medical use of marijuana," he said of the
medical use initiative. "You're still buying it off the street. How
would a physician know what the dosage is?"

Also, Boehm said, because the ordinance would direct all misdemeanor
cases of marijuana to municipal court, it takes officers' discretion
away from them for directing cases to state court. Such cases would
include second-time offenders and arrests resulting from search warrants.

But Boehm has a major problem with the message the ordinance would
send.

"It takes steps toward legalizing marijuana, which I'm philosophically
opposed to," Boehm said. "The message would be in my mind that it's OK
to use marijuana, that the substance is OK. I disagree with that. I'm
not suggesting that everyone who uses marijuana goes on to use harsher
drugs. But I don't know of anyone who uses harsher drugs who didn't
start with marijuana."