A GROUP COLLECTS VOTES FOR MARIJUANA

A small but vocal political group called for the legalization of marijuana
and hashish Tuesday, sparking an angry response from the country's top drug
expert, who said such a step would be terrible for Russia.

Members of the Transnational Radical Party held what they called a "street
referendum" on Pushkin Square, extolling the virtues of legalizing light
drugs and asking people whether they favor it.

"Hemp and its derivatives are less harmful than alcohol and tobacco," said
Anatoly Khramov, head of the party's Moscow office.

"Light drugs remain under the control of mafia structures and bring them
tremendous profits," he said, arguing that marijuana should be made legal
to take it out of the criminal realm.

Khramov called for three basic changes to drug-related legislation: to free
drug users from criminal liability; to make a clear distinction between
"hard" and "soft" drugs; and to provide free medical treatment and
rehabilitation to addicts.

Under existing law, people charged with obtaining and keeping even a small
amount of marijuana face up to three years in prison. Distribution can
bring sentences of seven to 15 years.

Tuesday's street action prompted an angry response from Nikolai Ivanets,
the Health Ministry's top drug abuse expert. Speaking on Ekho Moskvy radio,
Ivanets warned that legalizing "light" drugs like marijuana would be a
"danger to the nation."

"It would be terrible if this is allowed," Ivanets said, adding that "from
the medical point of view, marijuana opens the way to other harder drugs"
that are more addictive.

Drug use, especially of harder drugs like heroin, has exploded since 1991,
leading to a sharp rise in AIDS cases among addicts who share needles.

A recent poll of 1,600 people conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion
Center found that 99 percent of those surveyed said the country's drug
problem is "very serious" or "serious enough." Only 1 percent called it
"not very serious."

The marijuana survey was the second headline-grabbing public action by the
Transnational Radical Party in as many days. On Monday, members of the
group boarded a Moscow riverboat and, just as it passed by the walls of the
Kremlin, unfurled a banner calling for immediate peace talks between
President Vladimir Putin and Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov.

The party complained that Moscow authorities had denied their request to
hold Tuesday's event for the whole day, instead limiting it to several
hours. In a statement carried on its web site, the party said it had filed
a complaint in city court.

Valeria Konovalenko, 20, a psychology student and cigarette smoker, said
she signed against legalization. "I think there are enough amusements for
young people and nothing good will come of legalizing marijuana. It's bad
for your health," she said.

Nikita Karpov, a 17-year-old law student, voted for legalization because he
considers marijuana a soft drug. "It should be like in the Netherlands," he
said. "If they legalize it, there will be fewer users."

State Duma Deputy Gennady Raikov disagreed: "It would be something awful if
drugs were legalized in Russia. You have to take into account the culture
and mentality of a people -- not compare them to, say, Holland."