Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jul 2002
Source: Hendersonville Times-News (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Hendersonville Newspaper Corporation
Contact:  http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/793
Author: Joel Burgess
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

PRO-POT LIBERTARIAN TO MAKE HOUSE BID

MILL SPRING -- A Libertarian candidate who has served time for marijuana 
possession will push for the legalization of medical marijuana and an end 
to jail sentences for nonviolent criminal offenders if she is elected to 
the State House.

Jean Marlowe, 50, of Mill Spring said Tuesday she will run for the 113th 
District, which includes Polk County, most of Transylvania County and 
southern Henderson County.

If elected, Marlowe said, she will propose a bill legalizing marijuana for 
medical use.

"Marijuana is an herb put here by the creators. The government should not 
be arresting people for marijuana possession. They should be arresting 
terrorists," she said in a phone interview.

Marlowe uses marijuana as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory for a genetic 
disorder, porphyria. The disease causes arthritis and allergic reactions to 
many everyday substances, including most painkillers and 
anti-inflammatories, she said.

She gets a recommendation for marijuana from a California doctor who 
consults with her local physician, she said.

In 1998 Marlowe said she was convicted of possession of a controlled 
substance with intent to sell and deliver after she imported marijuana from 
Switzerland for medical use.

The 10 months she served in a federal detention center opened her eyes, she 
said.

"I saw the extreme devastation that this war on drugs causes," Marlowe said.

Eliminating jail sentences for nonviolent offenders, such as those 
convicted of drug use, could help families and ease the burden on the 
state, she said.

Marlowe tied this to the state's budget deficit, currently estimated at 
more than $1.6 billion.

"We need to look at the overall big picture of where this huge deficit 
comes from," she said. Many children in the United States have a parent in 
jail for "minor, nonviolent drug offenses," she said. "When they go to jail 
that child loses all financial support."

This, Marlowe said, forces the state to pick up the tab for raising the 
child through Medicaid or other programs.

Marlowe filed June 28 along with other Libertarian candidates. As a new 
party the Libertarian Party was required to file all candidates in Raleigh 
by July 1.

So far Marlowe has no other contenders for the new 113 House District, 
though Rep. Trudi Walend, R-Brevard has said she intends to run.

Walend has not filed for the 113th, though she did file to defend her now 
defunct 68th before a redistricting lawsuit changed legislative lines.

Candidates have until Friday to file for new legislative districts.

A superior court judge created the 113th when he threw out the General 
Assembly's redistricting plans as unconstitutional and put in place his own 
legislative districts.

All districts are interim and can be changed by the legislature after the 
election.
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MAP posted-by: Ariel