by Wayne Turner, Yes on 59 Campaign, Sep 5, 1998

Washington, DC -- DC Superior Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ruled on Thursday that thousands of signatures in support of DC's medical marijuana Initiative 59 were improperly excluded by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics, and ordered their inclusion in the Board's tabulations.

Under the Court's ruling, the Board of Elections and Ethics must now tabulate and include over 4000 petition signatures it had previously set aside. Attorney Matt Watson, who with Alisa Wilkins are representing the Initiative 59 Campaign, comments, "The decision of the Court preserves one of the few electoral rights of citizens of the District of Columbia, to propose and vote on initiative measures. Judge Huvelle agreed that the Board of Elections and Ethics' decision would have 'silenced the voices of over 4,600 voters.'"

Initiative 59, organized by the local AIDS advocacy group ACT UP Washington, proposes to protect seriously and terminally ill patients, such as persons with cancer and AIDS, if they are instructed by their doctors to use small amounts of marijuana to ease their suffering.

Activists hailed the Court's decision as a victory for democracy in the District, "More importantly, there is hope for the thousands of sick and dying DC residents threatened with arrest and prosecution." states Initiative 59 sponsor Wayne Turner, who took over the campaign after his partner, Steve Michael, died from AIDS on May 25.

At least 5% of (16,997) of the total number of DC registered voters must sign petitions in order to place an initiative on the ballot, including at least 5% in 5 of the District's 8 Wards. Over 32,000 petition signatures for I-59 were submitted by DC activists on July 6, in order to meet the deadline for the November election.

However I-59 organizers learned that thousands of signatures had been rejected by staffers because the circulator had been living at a Women's Shelter during the time she gathered signatures, and not at her family home listed on her circulator's affidavit.

After excluding thousands of signatures, DC government employees verified only 17,092. The Board of Elections and Ethics, while conceding that the measure qualified in 5 wards, and exceeded the 5% District-wide minimum, ruled on August 5 that the number of verified signatures was "statistically insufficient" to place Initiative 59 on the election ballot.

On Wednesday, September 2, the Board conceded that errors were made during the Board's tabulation process when it invalidated the signature of Steve Michael, who had signed last February. Mayoral candidate Jeffery Gildenhorn, a strong supporter of Initiative 59, demanded that his signature, also discounted by Board staff, be included in the Board's tabulations. The Board declined to review the almost 700 additional signatures disputed by I-59 organizers, which should have been included in its own tabulation.

"Before Steve went into the Intensive Care Unit, he made me promise one thing, and that was to save the initiative. Steve died, but his work didn't. Despite all the obstacles, Initiative 59 will be on the November ballot, and we will win protection for patients," adds Turner. Contact I-59 HQ at (202)547-9404.

Dear friends,

The Yes on 59 campaign has overcome many obstacles to secure a spot on the ballot. It's been almost two years since the passage of Prop. 215 in California when Steve Michael and Wayne Turner announced their intentions to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot in D.C. Sadly, Steve won't be around to see the fruition of all his hard work. Thankfully, Wayne Turner has been the model for courage and determination. Despite the loss of his lover and the disruption caused by an influx of tens of thousands of dollars by Americans for Medical Rights to fund a competing medical marijuana initiative (which was never circulated), Wayne remained focused and strong. He has met and overcome all of the obstacles thrown in his way with a professionalism and integrity that is truly remarkable. I really can't laud him and the other DC activists that worked on the I-59 campaign enough.

Now that their spot on the D.C. ballot is virtually guaranteed, the Yes on 59 campaign has the opportunity to speak loudly and clearly on behalf of seriously and terminally ill patients nationwide. The opposition to patients will come from Congress, the White House, Drug (biz)Czar Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, and others who are employed in the nation's capitol promoting drug laws that harm sick people.

Because D.C. is our nation's capitol, passage of I-59 will be even bigger than the passage of Prop. 215 in California. Passage of I-59 in D.C. will send a clear message to the federal government, from their own backyard, that the people want to protect patients from prosecution. Passage of I-59 will also be important because, unlike Prop. 215, I-59 clearly allows the distribution of medical marijuana by not-for-profit corporations.

In addition, because D.C. is a federal district, not a state, every law passed by D.C. voters or enacted by the city council has to be reviewed by Congress. Therefore, the enactment of I-59 by the voters of D.C. will require a debate in Congress on the merits of medical marijuana.

This campaign for I-59 will be historic. Unfortunately, the Yes on 59 campaign has not received the financial support that other medical marijuana ballot initiatives around the country have received. In Colorado, California-based Americans for Medical Rights spent at least $150,000 to circulate a ballot initiative (which many patients and advocates didn't support) that was ruled to have insufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot. (The Secretary of State estimated that only 54% of their signatures were valid.) AMR is challenging the ruling in district court, but it will not be easy to overcome such a huge signature deficit. In Maine, AMR spent $250,000 and also failed to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot. In D.C., AMR spent an estimated $100,000 and didn't even get their petition into circulation.

A lot of money has been wasted on failed ballot initiative efforts this year. Activists in Colorado, D.C., Maine and Alaska have been very critical of this waste of resources in the past. We want to reassure potential contributors that there are still organizations who spend campaign donations wisely and successfully. The Initiative 59 campaign is the perfect example. Their whole two-year campaign has been run on probably well less than $20,000. As I said before, the Yes on 59 campaign is composed of committed professionals, and they will succeed. Your donations will not be wasted. Please, be as generous as possible and help be a part of this historic campaign.

Laura Kriho
Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis

For more information on the DC campaign, see:
www.actupdc.org
www.levellers.org/dcstat.html

Distributed by:
Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis
PO Box 729
Nederland CO 80466
Phone: 303-784-5632
Email