VOTERS SMOKE POT PROPOSAL

Proposition 1 Loses By Wide Margin.

Proposition 1 supporters were claiming small victories last night even
though their measure, which sought to ease marijuana possession laws in
Columbia, was defeated soundly by voters during yesterday's municipal election.

Anthony Johnson, who wrote the proposed ordinance that would have
decriminalized marijuana possession and effectively legalized the drug for
medicinal uses, said the issue caused police to rethink their policy and
proved grassroots campaigns are still feasible.

"The proposition illustrated that a small group of dedicated people can
make their voices heard," Johnson said by phone shortly after he disbanded
the Proposition 1 campaign party at Colosseum Bistro around 11:30 p.m.

While trouble counting flawed votes for Boone Hospital trustee caused the
returns to come in later than usual, when every vote was tallied Columbia
residents defeated Proposition 1 by 2,832 votes.

Nearly 58 percent of 18,090 Columbia voters opposed the measure while about
42 percent supported it. Seven of eight First Ward precincts and four of
seven Sixth Ward precincts supported the measure, while only five of 29
precincts in the remaining wards supported it.

Outspoken Proposition 1 opponent Eve Pearson, president of the Mid-Missouri
Coalition on Adolescent Concerns, praised yesterday's outcome and said she
hopes the victory would focus the community on finding solutions to the
city's drug problem.

"This has been a wake-up call," she said of the proposition. "A lot of
people cared enough to come forward and put their personal lives out there
to warn others" about the marijuana measure.

Pearson said she used marijuana and other harder drugs during college and
suffered for it. She said she doesn't want other people to make the same
mistake.

"I feel looking back that it had a very detrimental effect on my life,"
Pearson said.

She hopes to organize a community meeting to discuss Columbia's drug
problem, which she said includes underage drinking, as well as marijuana
and other drug abuse.

Local attorney and longtime marijuana decriminalization advocate Dan Viets
said it was hard to campaign against those using public funds to oppose the
measure, such as Columbia police Chief Randy Boehm and the White House drug
prevention office.

Boehm wrote a column in the city-funded Neighborhood Watch newsletter
asking people to vote no on Proposition 1.

The quarterly newsletter is sent to hundreds of local residents. He
apologized last week for the column.

"The whole opposition was publicly funded," Viets said, noting that
detractors never established a campaign committee.

Viets said he would continue pushing his ethics complaint against ACT
Missouri, a not-for-profit organization he says violated election laws by
not reporting in time the $1,675 it spent campaigning against Proposition 1.

Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Crane said he thinks people
defeated Proposition 1 because they are satisfied with the way the city
handles misdemeanor marijuana cases.

"I would like to think that a large number of people realized that law
enforcement isn't unduly harsh with respect to first time offenders in
possession of small amounts of marijuana and were happy with the status
quo," he said. "For first time offenders, those people aren't going to jail."

Both Johnson and Viets said that in the immediate future they would turn
their attention to Missouri House Bill 644, a measure sponsored by Rep.
Vicki Walker, D-Kansas City, that would legalize marijuana for medicinal use.

Johnson said he would also lobby the city council to codify a recent change
in the Columbia Police Department's marijuana policy, which calls for
referring marijuana possession cases involving 35 grams or less to
municipal court instead of state court, except in certain circumstances.

Boehm changed the department policy in mid to late February in light of
Proposition 1.