PRO-POT LIBERTARIAN TO MAKE HOUSE BID

MILL SPRING -- A Libertarian candidate who has served time for marijuana
possession will push for the legalization of medical marijuana and an end
to jail sentences for nonviolent criminal offenders if she is elected to
the State House.

Jean Marlowe, 50, of Mill Spring said Tuesday she will run for the 113th
District, which includes Polk County, most of Transylvania County and
southern Henderson County.

If elected, Marlowe said, she will propose a bill legalizing marijuana for
medical use.

"Marijuana is an herb put here by the creators. The government should not
be arresting people for marijuana possession. They should be arresting
terrorists," she said in a phone interview.

Marlowe uses marijuana as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory for a genetic
disorder, porphyria. The disease causes arthritis and allergic reactions to
many everyday substances, including most painkillers and
anti-inflammatories, she said.

She gets a recommendation for marijuana from a California doctor who
consults with her local physician, she said.

In 1998 Marlowe said she was convicted of possession of a controlled
substance with intent to sell and deliver after she imported marijuana from
Switzerland for medical use.

The 10 months she served in a federal detention center opened her eyes, she
said.

"I saw the extreme devastation that this war on drugs causes," Marlowe said.

Eliminating jail sentences for nonviolent offenders, such as those
convicted of drug use, could help families and ease the burden on the
state, she said.

Marlowe tied this to the state's budget deficit, currently estimated at
more than $1.6 billion.

"We need to look at the overall big picture of where this huge deficit
comes from," she said. Many children in the United States have a parent in
jail for "minor, nonviolent drug offenses," she said. "When they go to jail
that child loses all financial support."

This, Marlowe said, forces the state to pick up the tab for raising the
child through Medicaid or other programs.

Marlowe filed June 28 along with other Libertarian candidates. As a new
party the Libertarian Party was required to file all candidates in Raleigh
by July 1.

So far Marlowe has no other contenders for the new 113 House District,
though Rep. Trudi Walend, R-Brevard has said she intends to run.

Walend has not filed for the 113th, though she did file to defend her now
defunct 68th before a redistricting lawsuit changed legislative lines.

Candidates have until Friday to file for new legislative districts.

A superior court judge created the 113th when he threw out the General
Assembly's redistricting plans as unconstitutional and put in place his own
legislative districts.

All districts are interim and can be changed by the legislature after the
election.