Judge Hears Medical Marijuana Case

Washington, DC -- Forty-five days after voters in the nation's capital passed judgment on a medical marijuana initiative, lawyers for the District of Columbia and the American Civil Liberties Union are asking a federal judge to let the ballots be counted.

Five states passed referenda Nov. 3 making it easier for seriously ill people to use marijuana to ease pain or nausea. But Congress in October barred the district government from spending any money tallying the results on the initiative here.

``This is democracy held hostage,'' said AIDS activist Wayne Turner, who led the petition drive to get the initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Turner is getting legal help from the ACLU, which argues the budget provision violates the First Amendment right to free speech.

U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts was to hear the case today.

The Justice Department is defending the authority of Congress to forbid this city of 530,000 from counting the votes.

The author of the amendment, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., argues, ``If the district wants to move forward with their efforts to legalize marijuana or other mind-altering drugs, that's their problem. But my constituents, and obviously the constituents of many other congressional districts, aren't interested in paying for Washington D.C.'s folly.''

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics was the original defendant, but it has sided with the plaintiffs in calling for the release and certification of the results.

``We believe Congress acted in a constitutional way when it said Congress can't spend any money on it,'' said Justice Department spokesman Gregory King.

But King added that while the Justice Department objects to any attempt to certify the vote, it does not oppose releasing the results of the ballot.

Turner said that is not enough.

``That's basically turning an election into a public opinion poll,'' Turner said. ``This is about the right of the people of the District of Columbia to have their votes counted and to have them count,'' he said.

The initiative calls for the legalization of marijuana for people who are seriously or terminally ill.

Advocates argue that the drug can help some patients, principally by relieving nausea after chemotherapy or increasing the appetites of cancer and AIDS sufferers.

Nationwide, medical marijuana proponents succeeded in getting measures passed this year in Washington state, Alaska, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press.

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