LACK OF INITIATIVE

Last time the District tried a medical-marijuana initiative, Congress
suppressed the results of the balloting.

This time around, the medical-marijuana activists may spare Congress the
trouble.

According to an e-mail alert sent to supporters on June 24 by the Marijuana
Policy Project (MPP), this year's ballot initiative is in danger of not
reaching its target of 40,000 signatures by the July 8 filing deadline.

The reason, MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia says, is that D.C. volunteers
have failed to put in the effort.

Paid petition-wranglers are on track to net 33,000 names, but the MPP was
counting on unpaid locals, who'd pledged to collect 120 signatures apiece,
to complete the tally.

So far, the volunteers have delivered nothing, Kampia reports. "They're
going to be part of a winning team," he says of the laggard volunteers, "if
they just get off their asses and help."