BALLOT QUESTIONS: DRUG REFORM MEASURES SHOT DOWN IN 3 STATES

In a sharp rebuff of the drug-reform movement, Nevada voters refused
Tuesday to make their state the first to legalize possession of marijuana,
and reform measures also failed in Ohio and Arizona.

Federal and state law enforcement officials teamed up to oppose the Nevada
measure, which would have legalized possession of up to 3 ounces of pot.

The Arizona proposal would have downgraded small-scale marijuana possession
to the equivalent of a traffic violation, while the Ohio measure would have
forced judges to order treatment instead of jail for many drug offenders.

In Florida, voters approved a sweeping ban on smoking in restaurants and
virtually all other workplaces. "It's going to save lives," said Martin
Larsen, chairman of the Smoke-Free for Health campaign.

Smokers also were targeted in Arizona, where voters approved an increase in
cigarette taxes from 58 cents to $1.18 per pack.

In Tennessee and North Dakota, voters approved creation of a state lottery.
That is a milestone for Tennessee, which had joined Utah and Hawaii as the
only states without legalized gambling.

The results in Nevada, Arizona and Ohio were a blow for a national alliance
of drug reformers, who vowed to keep up their fight in future elections.

"For the first time, we were up against the full weight of the federal
government," said Bruce Mirkin, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.
"I never for a moment believed this was going to be easy."

In recent elections, voters in several states had approved use of marijuana
for medical purposes, and treatment-instead-of-jail proposals were approved
in Arizona in 1996 and California two years ago. But in Ohio, Gov. Robert
Taft and most of the criminal justice establishment campaigned vigorously
against the proposal.

In Nevada, authorities warned that legalizing pot could wreak havoc, and
some voters agreed.

"It would be a mess," said Peaches Johnson of Las Vegas. "It's permission
to get high."

In South Dakota, voters heeded the urgings of politicians and judges, and
defeated a proposal - backed by drug reformers and others - that would have
allowed defendants to tell juries they could disregard a law if they don't
like it.

In Massachusetts, voters agreed to eliminate bilingual education and
replace it with a one-year English-immersion program. However, Colorado
voters defeated a virtually identical proposal.

Both measures had financial backing from wealthy California entrepreneur
Ron Unz, who contends that bilingual education traps foreign-born students
in classrooms where they master neither their native language nor English.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Jeb Bush won re-election but suffered a defeat
elsewhere on the ballot as voters approved an initiative backed by many
Democrats that would limit class size in public schools. Bush said the
limits - ranging from 18 in the lowest grades to 25 in high school - would
force an unaffordable increase in school spending.

On the financial front, elected officials in Arkansas and Massachusetts
were relieved by the defeat of proposals to eliminate major taxes. The
Arkansas measure would have abolished the sales tax on food and medicine;
the initiative in Massachusetts would have repealed the state income tax,
drying up a $9 billion funding source.

Warned of drastically higher taxes, voters in Oregon rejected a proposal to
create the nation's first comprehensive health care plan. The estimated
price tag was to give every citizen full medical insurance was $19 billion
a year.

Oregon voters also rejected a proposal to make their state the first in the
nation to require labels on genetically modified foods.

Among many measures on local ballots were the proposed secession of the San
Fernando Valley and Hollywood from Los Angeles. Voters rejected the
breakaway bids by wide margins, keeping their city the nation's second largest.

In other results:

- - Colorado and New Mexico voters rejected a proposed state holiday in honor
of labor leader Cesar Chavez.

- - California and Colorado voters defeated proposals to allow voter
registration on Election Day.

- - North Dakotans defeated a proposed package of financial incentives aimed
at encouraging young adults to stay in the state.

- - Oklahomans voted to ban cockfighting. The state had been one of three,
along with Louisiana and New Mexico, that still allowed it.

- - Arkansas voters rejected a proposal to make certain acts of animal
cruelty a felony. Opponents of the measure warned that farmers, hunters and
fishermen could face unwarranted accusations of cruelty.

- - Californians approved a proposal sponsored by actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger's proposal to earmark a half-billion dollars annually for
after-school programs.