GROUPS WEIGH DRUG-LAW INITIATIVES

Ballot Efforts Address Treatment, Medical Use of Marijuana

Two national groups that favor more liberal drug policies are considering
separate ballot initiatives in the District to legalize medical use of
marijuana and offer treatment for those convicted of drug possession.

The medical marijuana initiative is a repeat of 1998, when city voters
backed a similar ballot question by a wide margin but congressional
Republicans blocked implementation. Advocates said shifting sentiments on
Capitol Hill make the time right for another try.

The second initiative is new and would offer substance-abuse treatment to
nonviolent drug offenders but not reduce criminal sanctions against
possessing illegal drugs.

Both initiatives face hurdles before getting on the November ballot. If they
go forward, the questions could put the city's drug policy at the center of
a fall election season with few major battles.

The ballot questions are being pushed by separate groups but ones that share
some of the same money donors, including international financier George
Soros.

The Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, estimates that more than
1,000 patients suffering from HIV, glaucoma, cancer and other afflictions
would benefit from legalized marijuana use. The ballot question would allow
doctors to give patients permission to grow and use marijuana for medicinal
purposes.

Nine states have legalized medical uses of marijuana by ballot initiative or
through legislation. In 1998, District voters approved a similar measure, 69
percent to 31 percent, before U.S. Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.)
successfully pushed an amendment blocking it.

A federal court struck down Barr's amendment in March, but the Bush
administration has announced that it will appeal the decision. Barr praised
the administration's position and said last week that he would continue to
fight the medical marijuana movement in the District.

Backers of medical marijuana have started lobbying the Hill in anticipation
of an affirmative vote in the District. Robert D. Kampia, executive director
of the Marijuana Policy Project, said support has grown in the House.

"We believe that if we can win on the floor on the first House vote, we
think we've won the whole thing," he said.

The other initiative is an effort by the D.C. Campaign for New Drug
Policies, a city affiliate of the national Drug Policy Alliance. The group
is debating whether to go forward with the initiative this year, said
President William D. McColl, but its goal is to focus attention on treatment
rather than incarceration.

"For an awful lot of people, the problem is the addiction itself," McColl
said, "and when the problem is the addiction, the appropriate response is
treatment."

Both groups need 17,000 people, 5 percent of city voters, to sign petitions
by July 8. The petitions must include 5 percent of voters in at least five
of the city's eight wards.

More daunting would be continued intervention by Barr, who has not backed
down on his opposition to legalizing marijuana for any purpose. He called
the medical marijuana argument a first step for those who seek to legalize
all drugs.

"It is simply a wedge to allow those who want to legalize drugs generally to
get their foot in the door," Barr said. "There is no legitimate benefit to
smoked marijuana."

Barr said he might support an initiative encouraging treatment for drug
offenders, depending on how the ballot question was written. "There are a
number of ways that they could do it that would be appropriate," he said.