WHITE HOUSE WEIGHS IN ON POT ISSUE

A local initiative aimed at softening the city's marijuana laws has caught
the attention of the White House's drug prevention office.

Scott Burns, an appointee of President George W. Bush and director of state
and local affairs for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, will
speak Thursday at a luncheon sponsored by a local anti-drug group at the
Peachtree Banquet Center. The subject of the luncheon will be how
Proposition 1 conflicts with federal laws.

Burns, along with a staffer from the Washington, D.C., office and another
from Kansas City, will also hold a news conference about the measure.

"We're not here to tell people how to vote. The president has a strategy to
reduce drug abuse, and any attempt to decriminalize or legalize drugs runs
counter to our mission," said Kevin Sabet, a senior speechwriter with the
drug policy office, which coordinates a widespread anti-drug media campaign.

Instead of telling people how to vote, Sabet said that Burns would be
"clearing up misinformation."

For example, Sabet said that marijuana is a dangerous drug and its use puts
more teenagers in rehab every year than alcohol and other drugs combined.

He called Columbia's effort a "well-financed effort derived from people who
want to legalize all drugs."

Amy Fritz, who graduated in December from the University of
Missouri-Columbia and is director of development for the political action
committee that has formed to support Proposition 1, said the White House's
efforts amounted to campaigning against the student-led initiative.

"We always assumed that if they ever found out about the initiative that
they would probably increase the anti-marijuana ads in this town, but I
don't think we ever thought they would come down and campaign against it,"
she said. "They may not be saying 'vote no,' but it's not a mere
coincidence that they're coming here."

Proposition 1 organizers collected 2,600 signatures last fall - more than
double the amount required under the city charter. The initiative would
give "seriously ill" patients the right to obtain and use marijuana and
reduce fines for those caught with small amounts of the drug.

The Columbia initiative springs up about six months after marijuana reform
measures were defeated in three states. At the time, federal drug
enforcement officers said that the election marked the beginning of the end
of the legalization movement.

Sabet said that his office was coming to Columbia at the request of Act
Missouri, a drug prevention and education not-for-profit group based in
Jefferson City.

Peggy Quigg, executive director of Act Missouri, which also uses the name
Partnership for Drug Free Communities, said she was notified about the
initiative by Columbia residents.

Quigg's group is paying for the luncheon, to which a couple hundred people
have been invited.

She said that Proposition 1 is a complicated ordinance that brings up
medical, law enforcement and court issues.

"We wanted to have somebody who could speak on all three of those issues at
once. I think there is quite a bit of misinformation in Columbia," she said.

"I don't think the federal government is coming to weigh in on the argument
- - that would be overstepping their role. They're going to provide quality
information and help counter some of the misinformation circulating in
Columbia."