HOUSE GOP TARGETS MEDICAL MARIJUANA STATES

Washington -- House Republicans are pressing for legislation that would
strip federal anti-drug money from local police in states that have passed
medical marijuana laws.

The overall legislation, which would keep the White House drug policy
office in business for another five years, would also allow the office to
run ads opposing medical marijuana initiatives.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said both provisions
were initiated in Congress, but they clearly reflect the Bush
administration's strong desire to strictly enforce marijuana laws. Federal
law does not permit legalization for medical use, although eight states
allow it.

Tom Riley, spokesman for White House drug policy director John Walters,
said: "One of the duties of the drug czar is to oppose efforts to legalize
drugs. There's a concern in Congress that marijuana is more harmful than
most people perceive. They want to make sure this agency keeps a focus on
that."

Walters has traveled the country to speak out against easing marijuana
laws, but Riley said there were no issue-oriented ads planned. However, he
added, "We want as much flexibility as possible."

The House Government Reform Committee was expected to approve the
legislation Thursday, with an amendment prohibiting ads expressly
advocating support or defeat of a candidate or ballot question.

Groups opposed to strict criminal enforcement of marijuana laws said more
than $11 million could be eliminated from state and local police budgets in
"high-intensity" drug trafficking areas. The money would go to federal law
enforcement officers on the grounds that local police would not be able to
enforce marijuana laws.

The House bill is sponsored by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the
House Government Reform criminal justice subcommittee. His staff director,
Chris Donesa, said the switch is needed because the federal government
would take on an added burden, but emphasized the money would be used in
the same high-intensity areas.

Donesa added that local and federal officers work together in those areas
anyway, so there would be little practical effect.

Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project said his group was especially
concerned about the possibility of huge advertising expenditures by the
White House in an attempt to influence elections.

"This leaves them free to run ads saying medicinal marijuana is a lie and a
ploy to legalize marijuana for all purposes," he said.

Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance called the potential issue
advertising "a shell game. It would take money from taxpayers and most
taxpayers will see through it."

Piper said the reallocation of money to federal officers would move the
focus from heroin and cocaine trafficking to enforcement against medical
marijuana patients.

The states with medical marijuana laws are Hawaii, Alaska, Washington,
Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada and Maine.

Voters last November defeated a Nevada measure to legalize possession of up
to three ounces of marijuana; an Arizona initiative that would have made
pot possession equivalent to a traffic violation; and a South Dakota
initiative that would have legalized hemp farms.