Backers Of Medical-Marijuana Initiative Roll Out TV Ads
by David Schaefer

October 29, 1998 - Seattle Times - opinion@seatimes.com

Backers of Initiative 692 - which would legalize medical uses of marijuana in Washington state - have unveiled a $220,000 statewide television campaign in the last week before the election.

And although opponents have raised only about $12,000, they are not unarmed as voters decide on the issue for the second time in two years.

Although there is only a small local group opposing Initiative 692 - including King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and state Lt. Gov. Brad Owen - it is the beneficiary of a well-funded national anti-drug campaign operated out of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The deputy director of the drug-control office, Donald Vereen, is scheduled to appear at a news conference with local officials tomorrow to argue against using marijuana as medicine.

Initiative 692 would legalize the use of marijuana by patients suffering from a number of ailments. They include nausea associated with chemotherapy, complications from AIDS, muscle spasms connected to multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and certain kinds of intractable pain. The use would have to be on the recommendation of a doctor, and the ballot measure would not authorize the sale of marijuana, just the possession for medical use.

Unlike Initiative 685, which failed at the polls a year ago, this year's initiative would apply only to marijuana and not to other drugs.

The local sponsor is Rob Killian, a physician who has recommended marijuana for hospice patients, among others. His brother, Tim, is the campaign manager. Rob Killian also was the leader of last year's measure.

But behind the state initiative is a national battle over drug policy.

Medical marijuana initiatives are also on the ballot in Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and the District of Columbia. Arizona, which legalized the medical use of a broad array of drugs in a 1996 election, is voting on the same issue again this year because of opposition in the state Legislature.

With the exception of Arizona and D.C., the campaigns largely are funded by three wealthy backers: billionaire George Soros of New York, an internationally known financier; John Sperling, of Arizona, the millionaire founder of the University of Phoenix; and Peter Lewis, an Ohio insurance executive. The three also were the main supporters of Initiative 685 in Washington state last year.

With the money flowing through a California-based organization, Americans for Medical Rights, they have contributed most of the $775,000 spent in the state.

Contributions from the group include $330,000 in Colorado, $130,000 in Alaska, $230,000 in Nevada and $295,000 in Oregon.

Newspaper polls show the issue ahead in all five Western states, with 60 percent majorities in four of the states, and with a narrow lead in Nevada. Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights, said its private polling shows similar numbers.

But countering the financiers is a concerted public-education effort from the White House drug czar.

Although the White House is not supposed to spend its public-education budget influencing the outcome of elections, Vereen, the deputy director of the drug-control office, is appearing this week in four of the Western states with marijuana measures on the ballot.

Vereen and his boss, drug czar Barry McCaffrey, held a news conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this week to voice their opposition to medical use of marijuana.

And their Internet Web site has an extensive listing arguing that marijuana is an unproven medical technique that hasn't received full scientific testing.

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