MARIJUANA QUESTIONS ALSO ON BALLOT ELSEWHERE

CARSON CITY -- Nevada isn't the only state where citizens on Nov. 5 will be
preoccupied with marijuana.

Arizona voters also decide whether to decriminalize pot use; South Dakotans
determine whether to legalize industrial hemp, and San Franciscans decide if
their city should grow pot for medical patients.

None of the initiatives has received as much national attention as Nevada's
Question 9, but a lot of money has been spent in Arizona over its initiative
to decriminalize the possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana. The
measure also requires the Department of Public Safety to provide two free
ounces to people with permission to use marijuana for medical reasons.

The Arizona Republic reported in September that the campaign to
decriminalize marijuana is being bankrolled by Phoenix entrepreneur John
Sperling, New York financier George Soros and Cleveland businessman Peter
Lewis. The trio have donated a combined $840,000 to a campaign committee
known as "The People Have Spoken." If the question passes, then residents
would pay only $250 fines if caught with small amounts of marijuana.

Lewis, the chief executive officer of Progressive Insurance Co., also has
made contributions to the Marijuana Policy Project, the parent organization
of the group seeking to to legalize marijuana in Nevada, Nevadans for
Responsible Law Enforcement.

Police organizations have railed against the ballot question, particularly
the requirement that medical marijuana patients receive free pot. Arizona
voters established a program to allow people to use marijuana for medical
purposes in 1996.

South Dakota would become the fourth state with a law allowing farmers to
grow industrial hemp for industrial purposes if its citizens back a ballot
question. Polls show 85 percent of the population supports the plan.

Industrial hemp is defined as the type of cannabis plant that contains 1
percent or less of THC, the mind-altering chemical found in marijuana.
Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia already allow industrial hemp
cultivation, although growing the crop remains against federal law.

South Dakota farmers want to grow hemp because it has become a $500 million
a year crop, grown mainly for fiber.

Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to let residents
decide whether they want the city to grow marijuana for patients. That
measure came in response to a Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a
Northern Nevada farm that supplied medical marijuana. Polls show this
question also probably will pass. About 3,600 people in San Francisco have
permission to use marijuana as medicine.