'POT' ACT IN WORKS FOR BALLOT

Group Seeks OK For Medicinal Use

The Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana is confident that it will
gather enough signatures of registered voters to qualify its proposed
initiated act for the Nov. 2 general election ballot, a spokesman for the
group said Friday.

Chloe Crater of Little Rock declined to disclose how many people have
signed the group's petition for the proposal.

The alliance needs to turn in the petition with at least 64,456 Arkansas
registered voter signatures on it by July 2. It must be turned in to the
secretary of state's office. Attorney General Mike Beebe's March 12
approval of the popular name of "The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act" and
its ballot title allowed the alliance to start collecting signatures.

The group hired The Southwest Group of Las Vegas to collect signatures,
Crater said. "We are on target to have the amount that we need," she said
in an interview. "There is a lot of support in this state for this issue.
Arkansans are compassionate to patients suffering from chronic pain and
chronic illnesses."

Larry Page of Roland, executive director of the Arkansas Committee for
Ethics Policy, responded that Arkansans "are compassionate and kind, but I
don't think Arkansans are convinced this is the best way to treat these
maladies."

So far the alliance has the largest treasury of any of the committees
formed to promote or defeat ballot measures in Arkansas.

Through April, it reported contributions of $337,295 and expenses of $216,755.

The Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Fayetteville contributed $175,200
to the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Billionaire Peter B. Lewis
of Cleveland gave $161,000, according to financial disclosure reports. The
Southwest Group has been paid $186,000 by the Arkansas Alliance for Medical
Marijuana for canvassing and consulting.

Denele Campbell of West Fork, executive director of the Alliance for Reform
of Drug Policy, said the "lion's share" of the 5-year-old nonprofit group's
$175,200 contribution to the Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana came
from Lewis.

"We were proud to have built such a strong organization in Arkansas over
the past five years that Mr. Lewis would have the confidence to make this
kind of investment in us," said Campbell, who also is treasurer for the
Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

Lewis, chairman of the board for The Progressive Corp., an insurance
company, has made financial contributions to groups promoting similar
ballot measures in several other states. Billionaire financier George Soros
of New York and Lewis are helping finance MoveOn.org's advertising campaign
aimed at defeating President Bush.

A spokesman for The Progressive Corp. said he didn't have a telephone
number to reach Lewis on Friday.

A group pushing another ballot proposal also reported this week that it has
gathered nearly 100,000 signatures on its petition. The Arkansas Marriage
Amendment Committee said it hopes to have 150,000 signatures by the time it
turns in its petition July 1. Its proposal would be a constitutional
amendment if adopted by the voters in the Nov. 2 election.

The marriage group's petition needs only 80,570 registered Arkansas voters'
signatures to qualify for the ballot. It would define marriage as being
only between a man and a woman.

Spokesmen for the Arkansas Committee on Ethics Policy, Families First
Action Committee and Arkansas Marriage Amendment Committee said they are
using volunteers to gather signatures. Through April, they collectively
reported about $65,000 in contributions and about $46,000 in expenses,
according to their disclosure reports.

Committees also have been formed to promote and defeat a proposed
constitutional amendment to extend term limits for legislators and promote
a proposed constitutional amendment to allow legislators to approve general
obligation bonds for large economic development projects. Arkansans for
Voter Rights was created in April to urge passage of a proposal to increase
from three to six the number of two-year terms that House members would be
allowed and from two to three the number of four year terms that senators
are allowed.

Jim Pledger of Little Rock is the group's chairman and Ron Russell of
Little Rock is the vice chairman. Russell's employer, the Arkansas State
Chamber of Commerce, contributed $5,000 to the group.

Save Term Limits was formed late last month to defeat the proposed
extension of term limits. Tim Jacob of Little Rock is its chairman and Rick
Scott of Maumelle is the secretary.

The 2004 Amendment 2 Committee also was created late last month to promote
passage of a constitutional amendment that would authorize the Legislature
to issue general obligation bonds to finance infrastructure costs for super
projects whose leaders plan to invest at least $500 million and create at
least 500 new jobs. Bonds could be issued in amounts equal to up to 5
percent of state general revenue, which at current general revenue levels
would amount to about $200 million in bonds.

The committee's chairman is Mike Maulden of Little Rock and the state's
former economic development director, Jim Pickens of Little Rock, is vice
chairman.

Information for this article was contributed by Laura Kellams of the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.