MEDICAL POT AWAITS DECISION

D.C. medical marijuana advocates said yesterday that they had been told
they submitted enough signatures to put before voters a measure that would
legalize marijuana for seriously ill people, but city election officials
warned that a pending court case could keep the initiative off the ballot.

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics "called us on Monday and told us,
'Congratulations, you're going to be on the ballot,'" said Steve Fox,
director of government relations for the District-based Marijuana Police
Project.

Officials with the elections board confirmed that the project submitted
enough valid signatures to put the initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot.
However, they said they won't know until the end of this month whether the
medical marijuana initiative will be put before voters.

"As of now, it's qualified to be on the ballot, but it could still be
pulled off because there is an appeal pending in federal court," said
Kenneth J. McGhie, general counsel for the elections board.

At issue is a court case prompted by a medical marijuana measure on the
ballot in 1998. An amendment to the 1999 D.C. appropriations bill barred
the District from counting and certifying the ballots. The project filed a
lawsuit against the D.C. and federal governments, arguing that the
amendment was unconstitutional, and in March the U.S. District Court for
the District ruled in favor of the project. The U.S. Department of Justice
appealed, and the board said it is awaiting that outcome.

Mr. McGhie said that if the Justice Department wins its appeal, the
initiative won't be allowed on the ballot, so elections officials are
taking a wait-and-see approach.

"The court of appeals looks like they can go either way," he said, adding
that a ruling is expected by Sept. 25.

The elections board has until early October to begin printing the ballots,
Mr. McGhie said.

The board's apparent indecision over the issue yesterday afternoon
infuriated Mr. Fox.

"A verbal commitment is as good a written commitment; it's just harder to
prove," he said. If the elections board "is trying to give any indication
that a decision hasn't been made, then they're lying through their teeth."

If the medical marijuana initiative does appear on the ballot and receives
enough votes, it would effectively bar D.C. police from arresting
"seriously ill people who use marijuana at the advice of their physicians,"
the project said in a statement.

"We know that District voters support legal access to medical marijuana for
seriously ill people," project spokeswoman Krissy Oechslin said.

Mrs. Oechslin cited the results of the 1998 election, when the medical
marijuana initiative appeared on the D.C. ballot. The initiative was
supported by more than 75,000 D.C. voters - more than double the number of
voters who opposed it.

She said that nationwide, eight states have laws protecting people from
being arrested for using marijuana if they have a doctor's note: Alaska,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.

Stipulations on the laws are different in each state, and nowhere can
doctors prescribe marijuana, because it's classified by the federal
government as a Schedule I controlled substance.

"Generally, patients are allowed to grow several marijuana plants, or they
can just buy it on the black market," Mrs. Oechslin said. "In California
there are distribution centers called cannibus clubs."

Medical marijuana activist Adam Eidinger says the fight to legalize the
drug for medicinal purposes is being waged across the nation and that it
will be a battle won if District citizens are allowed to vote on the issue
in November.

"This is definite progress, but the best progress is in California, where
local law enforcement authorities have entirely washed their hands of
making any arrests for marijuana," said Mr. Eidinger, the D.C. Statehood
Green Party candidate for U.S. shadow representative from the District.