Source: USA Today Section: Nationline Pubdate: Thur, 05 Nov 1998 Copyright: USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.usatoday.com/ Author: Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY BIAS, POT LAWS GAIN MOMENTUM Two potent political ideas born in California, repeal of affirmative action laws and medicinal use of marijuana, spread to other Western states Tuesday as voters made hundreds of new laws. In Washington state, nearly two-thirds of voters approved Initiative 200, which abolishes racial and gender preferences in university admissions and government contracting and hiring. That followed the lead of California, where Proposition 209 in 1996 pioneered the backlash against affirmative action laws. Although the ban doesn't take effect for 30 days, the University of Washington decided to get a jump on implementing it and announced an immediate end to preferences. Twenty-four percent of blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans in this fall's freshman class wouldn't have been admitted had the repeal been in place. Voters in Washington, Alaska, Nevada and Oregon passed initiatives to allow pot smoking as therapy for serious illnesses. Arizonans defeated a proposal to gut their 1996 law allowing such therapy. That was the same year California's Proposition 215 allowed doctors to prescribe pot to relieve patients' pain. Courts have blocked the laws in both states. Exit polls in Colorado and Washington, D.C., showed overwhelming support for similar ballot questions that had been voided by legal challenges before the election. Americans for Medical Rights, which led the campaigns, says the victories make medical marijuana ''a majority issue.'' White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey, though, issued a statement cautioning that the election results won't alter marijuana's illegal status under federal law. In other initiatives, voters in Michigan, home of assisted-suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian, rejected a measure to legalize the practice. Hawaiians and Alaskans voted in favor of banning same-sex marriage. Coloradans approved requiring parental notification for minor girls who seek abortion. - --- Checked-by: Richard Lake