An amendment to the fiscal 1999 D.C. budget, which was passed Oct. 20 by Congress, prohibits the city’s elections board from spending any money on the initiative. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., inserted the amendment into the budget bill.

Initiative 59 on the Nov. 3 D.C. general election ballot calls for the legalization of marijuana to treat patients with AIDS, glaucoma, muscle spasms, cancer and other serious illnesses. Patients would be required to have a doctor’s recommendation to acquire the drug.

Ken McGhie, general counsel for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, said the measure is still on the ballot and citizens can still vote on the initiative. He said the ballots were printed before Congress voted on the budget bill and the board has been mailing out absentee ballots since Sept. 30.

"We had people voting on it before Congress precluded us from spending any money on the measure," McGhie said.

McGhie said the measure is printed on the back side of the second of three ballot cards each voter will receive. All votes cast for or against the initiative will be counted, he said. For the Nov. 3 election, the congressional legislation prohibits only official certification of the vote, he said.

"For those of us who oppose Initiative 59, this is sort of bad timing," said Joyce Nalepka of Silver Spring, founder of America Cares, a group opposed to the legalization of marijuana for any purpose. "I would have liked to see it get voted down with a big enough margin to see it die forever."

Wayne Turner, an AIDS activist who led the drive to get the issue on the ballot, said he has already contacted the American Civil Liberties Union to take up the case in court.

"The votes will be counted and it’s our move to say, ‘Let this vote count,’" Turner said. "This is a central democracy issue."

Both sides have vowed not to let up trying to sway voters despite the fact the initiative vote may never be certified.

"We’ve got to triple our efforts now," Nalepka said. "People will let down their guards if we’re not careful."

"The important thing is for the residents of D.C. to get to the polling places and say ‘yes’ on 59," Turner said. "I’d like to be able to say, ‘Look at this majority we got,’ and use that as a prodding bar (against Congress). When we go to the Hill, this won’t be about medical marijuana or the patients, it will be about the vote of the people."

Both sides of the issue have racked up long lists of endorsements for their efforts. Nalepka’s coalition has lined up religious and national anti-drug organizations to oppose the measure, while Turner’s list of supporters includes 15 candidates running for office in the general election, including the three major-party mayoral candidates – Republican Carol Schwartz, Democrat Anthony Williams and Statehood candidate John Gloster.

Copyright 1998, the Common Denominator