Just Say No Propositions 300, 301: A Chance For A Progressive New Drug Policy. By TW WHEN TWO-THIRDS of the voters approved Proposition 200 in 1996, they established new drug policies by allowing the use of marijuana to ease the suffering of terminally ill people, as well as changing state law to allow small-time drug abusers to get treatment instead of prison sentences. That was a little too much for Arizona's tightly wound lawmakers, who somehow determined the voters had been hoodwinked; they changed the newly passed law as fast as they could. Under the Legislature's changes, it would be illegal to prescribe marijuana until the federal government approves it for medical use. They also made sure judges could still imprison first-time offenders for possession of small amounts of drugs. (Gee, and everyone wonders why our jails and prisons are overcrowded.) But the medical marijuana lobby had big bucks from people like John Sperling, the founder of the University of Phoenix, and George Soros, the billionaire financier and philanthropist. They funded an effort to let voters have final approval of the Legislature's changes. This country is now spending billions of dollars a year to fight the Drug War. Politicians continue to pander to voters on the issue, steadily ratcheting up the drug laws and eroding our civil liberties. And the politician who doesn't get in line with this police-state mentality will inevitably find himself attacked for being "soft on crime." In this kind of atmosphere, it will be decades before the federal government approves pot to relieve pain and suffering for people with terminal illnesses, unless pressure comes from the citizens themselves. This is your chance to apply that pressure. And there's no reason to send people to prison because they happen to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Just say NO to Props 300 and 301.

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