VOTERS TO DECIDE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Voters will be asked in November whether they wish
to amend the city charter to add language to allow people who use
marijuana for medicinal purposes to avoid prosecution.

Final ballot language has not yet been approved, said Ron Olson,
acting city clerk, but a petition with 7,000 signatures was certified
by the city clerk's office on June 11.

City council is scheduled to sign off on the ballot language during
its first regular meeting in July.

"We're very pleased with this and looking forward to a very successful
outcome," Charles Ream, a Scio Township trustee who spearheaded the
initiative to collect signatures, told The Ann Arbor News.

Detroit voters will consider a similar proposal this August.

Ream, chairman of the Washtenaw Coalition for Compassionate Care, said
medical marijuana advocates were considering a state petition drive in
order to put the question before all Michigan voters as early as 2006.

Ream has said the group plans similar initiatives in Ypsilanti and
Saline in 2006 and 2008, respectively.