Update on democracy held hostage in DC

Jul 28, 1999

Washington, DC -- Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) has renewed his effort to quash the democratic will of the people of the District of Columbia, in an amendment attached to the DC Appropriations Bill. The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Barr's amendment and other anti-democratic 'riders' on Thursday, July 29.

Barr introduced his revised proposal to stop a DC citizens' initiative, Measure 59. The Initiative, if passed, would protect critically ill patients in the use of doctor-supervised medical marijuana, including the treatment of AIDS wasting syndrome, and the side effects of chemo and radiation therapy in cancer patients.

Though it appeared on the ballot last November, vote totals for I-59 remain secret. The DC Board of Elections and Ethics has been prohibited from counting and officially certifying the results, due to Barr's amendment last year, banning DC from 'conducting an election' on a medical marijuana initiative.

Under Barr's new proposal, the District of Columbia would be prevented from using its own, local funds to "enact or carry out any law, rule or regulation" that reduces penalties for any schedule I substance or THC derivative.

"Barr's new proposal is even more extreme, with a deadly effect," states AIDS activist Wayne Turner, who lead the Initiative 59 campaign after the death of the Measure's original sponsor, Steve Michael, who died from AIDS last year. "It not only continues to block the District's democratic process, but goes even further, by threatening existing programs like the availability of Marinol."

Though legally available through a doctor's prescription, Marinol, a THC derivative, may no longer be accessible, under Barr's new proposal, to patients enrolled in DC's AIDS Drug Assistance Program, Medicaid, Medicare, or local government's health insurance policies. DC residents and organizations are vigorously urging Congress to reject the Barr amendment and other 'social riders.'

"This is yet another Bob Barr attempt to interfere with District citizens, who are, after all, only exercising one of the few democratic rights that Congress has allowed them -- in this case, the right to vote on initiatives and referenda," said Mary Jane DeFrank, executive director of the ACLU - National Capital Area. The ACLU/NCA continues to lead a federal court challenge to last year's Barr Amendment. Even if the unofficial vote totals are released, activists maintain that the results would still need to be legally certified, and then transmitted to Congress for 30 day review.

"We gathered over 32,000 petition signatures, and cast our votes, in order to protect the patients," Turner concludes, "Anything less is turning a democratic election into nothing more than a public opinion poll." For more information, contact Wayne Turner (202) 547-9404 or (pager) (202) 217-5636.

Ask your Congressmember to VOTE NO ON THE BARR AMENDMENT to the D.C. Appropriations Bill.

House Switchboard: (202) 225-3121

For a list of House members, see: clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/mbrcmtee.htm.

Yes on 59 Campaign
Wayne Turner
409 H Street N.E. - Suite #1
Washington, D.C. 20002-4335
Phone: (202) 547-9404
Fax: (202) 547-9448
Email: DCSign59@aol.com
http://www.actupdc.org
http://www.levellers.org/dcstat.htm

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