Pubdate: Thu, 07 Oct 2004
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: Front Page, Top of Page
Image: of front page http://www.adn.com/images/pdf/A1/anchorage_10_07_04.pdf
Copyright: 2004 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Author: Tataboline Brant, Anchorage Daily News
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/
Cited: Alaskans For Marijuana Regulation and Control 
http://www.regulatemarijuanainalaska.org
Cited: Yes on 2 http://www.yeson2alaska.com/
Cited: Nevada's Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana 
http://www.regulatemarijuana.org/
Cited: Montana's Initiative 148 http://www.montanacares.org/
Cited: Oregon's Measure 33 http://www.yeson33.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/marijuana+initiative
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Marijuana+Policy+Project

OUTSIDE INTERESTS FINANCE LOCAL PRO-MARIJUANA EFFORT

Initiative: Alaska Group Buys Ads With $550,000 From D.C.-Based Marijuana 
Policy Project.

A group working to decriminalize marijuana in Alaska has been bankrolled by 
an Outside organization to the tune of half a million dollars, making it 
one of the best-funded ballot issue groups in state history, according to 
reports filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

Alaskans For Marijuana Regulation and Control has already spent most of the 
$551,227 buying airtime for radio and television ads, mailing brochures, 
paying staffers and conducting get-out-the-vote telephone pushes, according 
to the group's 30-day pre-election campaign disclosure report filed Monday.

All but $510 of the money came from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana 
Policy Project, which is also funding pro-pot initiatives in other states 
this year.

With 27 days to go until the Nov. 2 election, Alaskans For Marijuana 
Regulation and Control has already outspent nearly all the ballot issue 
groups in state and local elections dating back to 1997, APOC records show. 
Only three groups since 1997 have spent more: the Alaska Family Coalition 
spent about $617,000 in 1998 to push for a constitutional amendment banning 
same-sex marriage; the Yes Committee spent $650,000 in 2002 on its campaign 
for a new convention center in Anchorage; and the Vote Yes! Committee spent 
almost $700,000 in 1999 to push for using part of the Permanent Fund to 
balance the state budget. Only the same-sex marriage measure won voter 
approval.

The fund raising is further evidence the legalization campaign this year is 
more sophisticated than a similar, unsuccessful effort in 2000.

Alaskans For Marijuana Regulation and Control has about 55 times the amount 
of money as the only organized opposition to Ballot Measure 2: Alaskans 
Against the Legalization of Marijuana/Hemp.

That group, which fought against legalization efforts in 2000, has about 
$10,000 in its coffers, according to its APOC report.

Matthew Fagnani, president of the local drug-testing firm WorkSafe Inc. and 
chairman of the opposition group, declined to discuss his group's campaign 
strategy. He said he's working with about half a dozen people to defeat 
Ballot Measure 2, which he said would have "grave social ramifications" on 
Alaska if it passes.

The initiative would make it legal under state law for people 21 and older 
to grow, use, sell or give away marijuana. It would also allow for state 
regulation and taxation of marijuana similar to alcohol or tobacco and for 
laws limiting use in public and to protect public safety.

"I think Alaskans need to be aware that this initiative is clearly 
supported and financed by Outside interests that have very little to do 
with Alaska," Fagnani said in an interview Monday. "They're trying to make 
Alaska a poster child for the rest of the nation."

Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said if the 
measure passes, "it could be a signal of larger changes to come around the 
country." But even if it fails, he said, it's still a step in the right 
direction for stimulating a discussion on marijuana policy that the nation 
needs to have.

"This is nothing we came up with and got on the ballot," Mirken said. "This 
was a totally homegrown campaign."

Mirken said his organization has about 15,000 dues-paying members, 
including some in Alaska. One of those members is Ohio billionaire Peter B. 
Lewis, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This year Lewis 
donated $485,000 to MPP, as well as $2.5 million to the anti-war, anti-Bush 
online advocacy group MoveOn.org and about $3 million to a similar 
organization, America Coming Together.

Mirken said a big part of what the MPP does "is support local activists who 
have ideas but maybe not a lot of resources."

The Marijuana Policy Project has spent comparable amounts of money as in 
Alaska on other statewide marijuana initiatives in Nevada, Oregon and 
Montana, Mirken said, although he didn't have exact figures.

According to the Billings, Mont., Gazette, the MPP spent about $197,000 as 
of mid-September on a campaign there to legalize the use of medical 
marijuana -- something Alaska voters did in 1998.

The Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore., recently reported that the MPP spent 
about $476,000 as of Sept. 16 on a campaign there to expand access to 
medical marijuana.

It was not clear how much money the organization spent in Nevada. An 
initiative there, similar to the one Alaskans will vote on next month, 
failed to make it to the ballot after a signature snafu. Supporters are 
already gearing up to get it on the 2006 ballot, Mirken said.

Mirken did not know how much money his organization contributed to the 
failed legalization efforts in Alaska in 2000. "It certainly was not the 
sort of sizable support we're doing this year," he said.

That initiative, which was turned down by about 60 percent of voters, also 
aimed to decriminalize pot, but the age limit included in the measure was 
younger: 18. It also wanted the government to set free some jail inmates 
convicted of marijuana crimes and set up a commission to consider 
restitution to them.

"It overreached a bit," Mirken said -- a sentiment expressed by people on 
both sides of the issue.

This time around, proponents have stripped down their demands on voters to 
make the measure more appealing. They also have some prominent figures on 
their side: an associate biomedical professor, a former deputy commissioner 
of corrections and a former attorney for the Republican Party of Alaska.

Some opponents of legalization have expressed worry about the professional 
nature of the campaign, but Fagnani said he has faith the measure will fail 
despite "misleading" ads by proponents.

Some of the ads -- there are four, two radio and two television -- portray 
Ballot Measure 2 as a privacy issue, the argument being that Alaskans have 
a constitutional right to use small amounts of pot in the privacy of their 
own home and that despite this, the government still spends "millions" to 
enforce prohibition.

"If the privacy of your home isn't respected now, then what's next?" one 
radio ad asks. "Will they be at your door demanding to know if you have 
cigarettes in your home? Or alcohol? Or guns? Don't let this be the future 
for Alaska."

Other ads portray the measure as a public policy issue, saying the 
government's drug war has failed, that too many kids can get their hands on 
pot and that Alaska needs to try something new, like regulation.

Fagnani doesn't buy the arguments: "If this initiative passes, Alaska will 
have more social problems than they currently have with alcohol or 
tobacco," he said. "I would rely on the intelligence of the voters to read 
the initiative very carefully and come to the conclusion that this is not a 
good policy."

Alaskans For Marijuana Regulation and Control is working with two main 
groups locally: Yes on 2 and Alaskans for Rights and Revenues.

Yes on 2 has raised close to $21,000 to date, according to its APOC report. 
Most of those donations were nonmonetary covering such things as office 
space and utilities. About $1,300 was in cash or checks from 21 
individuals, all but two of them Alaskans.

Alaskans for Rights and Revenues has raised about $1,655, according to its 
treasurer, Tim Hinterberger, an associate professor at the biomedical 
program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Most of those were 
individual donations, he said. The largest single one, for $975, was from 
the Texas-based Foundation for Constitutional Protection.

Alaskans for Marijuana Regulation and Control has already spent more than 
$300,000 on radio and television spots.

David Finkelstein, a former state legislator and the paid treasurer for the 
group, said that's probably it for the television ads, which are scheduled 
to air through Election Day. But, he said, "We have a lot of potential for 
expansion in print and radio."

There are no limits under state law on how much can be contributed to 
ballot issue groups.

[sidebar]

TEXT OF BALLOT MEASURE 2

This bill would remove civil and criminal penalties under state law for 
persons 21 years or older who grow, use, sell or give away marijuana or 
hemp products. State or local government could not require a permit or 
license for personal cultivation or distribution of marijuana, but could 
regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco. It removes all existing state 
restrictions on prescription of marijuana by a doctor for all patients, 
including children. It allows for laws limiting marijuana use in public and 
to protect public safety.
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