ACTIVISTS THINK TIME IS RIGHT TO LEGALIZE POT

Marijuana Advocates Circulate Petitions Despite Apparent Backlash

Lake County marijuana advocates are circulating petitions to create a
statewide ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, despite an apparent
public backlash against the abuses associated with growing it for
medicinal uses.

The proposed initiative, which won state approval for circulation late
last week, would prohibit marijuana's use for anyone under the age of
21 unless it was for medical reasons.

It also would bar anyone from being subjected to state criminal or
civil penalties for the possession, cultivation, transportation,
distribution or recreational use of marijuana.

Use of marijuana, however, would remain in conflict with federal laws
prohibiting its use.

While outright legalization of pot has been tried before, proponents
of the California Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative of 2008 are optimistic.

"We're going to pass it. I guarantee it," said Eddy Lepp, a co-author
of the initiative. He is known to pot activists worldwide for his
advocacy, which resulted in his arrest for growing 32,500 marijuana
plants in plain sight along a Lake County highway in August 2004. The
case is pending.

The petition needs 433,971 signatures by registered voters --
representing 5 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial
election -- to make it on the ballot.

Clearlake Oaks resident Jack Herer, the initiative's primary author,
has been trying unsuccessfully to qualify similar measures for ballots
in California, Oregon, Alaska and Washington since the early 1970s.

He said people will vote for it if he can convince them of its
benefits, which he claims include adding several years to the average
life span.

Herer and Lepp also worked successfully on California's Proposition
215, the 1996 voter-approved law that legalized marijuana for
medicinal use.

But even marijuana proponents question whether a measure legalizing
marijuana for all uses could pass today.

"I don't see majority support for legalization of marijuana at this
time," said Dale Gieringer, the Northern California coordinator for
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

NORML is not supporting the initiative, he said.

Mendocino County Supervisor Mike Delbar noted the backlash against
marijuana cultivation makes support for total legalization unlikely.

"I seriously doubt whether Proposition 215 could pass today given what
voters know versus what they think they voted for originally," he said.

"A lot of people couldn't argue with making available marijuana as a
medicine for those who are gravely ill. What they didn't expect was
the rampant exploitation of the law that we're living with now."

Proposition 215 has led to a proliferation of backyard marijuana
gardens where law enforcement officials say pot is grown not for
medical use but commercial sale.

They said pot enterprises attract crime, such as last week's Santa
Rosa home-invasion robbery that resulted in the shooting death of a
20-year-old man and the arrests of several others for possession of
more than 300 pounds of processed marijuana.

Pot gardens also attract complaints about pungent, skunklike
odors.

Cities and counties throughout California are struggling with
ordinances aimed at controlling marijuana cultivation and associated
problems.

Ukiah officials Wednesday made it a misdemeanor to violate its
ordinance against growing pot outdoors, and Mendocino County
supervisors next week will consider limiting the number of plants
grown per parcel.