MPP to Challenge Rejection of Medical Marijuana Petitions

Board of Elections Rejected Thousands of Valid Signatures

CONTACT:
Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ....... 202-462-5747 x113

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Friday, August 16, the Marijuana Policy Project
(MPP) will file formal papers asking the District of Columbia Board of
Elections and Ethics (BOEE) to reconsider its decision not to certify
Initiative 63, the Medical Marijuana Initiative of 2002, for the
November ballot. At an 11:00 a.m. press conference in front of the
BOEE's offices, MPP Executive Director Robert Kampia and other
speakers will present evidence of massive errors by the BOEE's staff,
which resulted in the rejection of thousands of valid petition
signatures.

Initiative petitions must contain valid signatures from five
percent of the District's registered voters, and that total must
include five percent of voters from at least five of the city's eight
wards. There is no dispute that the more than 18,000 signatures
accepted by the Board met the citywide requirement, but the BOEE
claimed that MPP had presented enough valid signatures from only four
of eight wards. Since then, MPP has identified thousands of valid
signatures that were wrongly rejected as not belonging to registered
voters -- enough to surpass the five percent requirement in at least
six wards.

One of those voters, Sanho Tree (who was interviewed on the July 30
ABC News special "War on Drugs, A War on Ourselves"), will speak at
the press conference. "I've been a registered voter in the District
for 14 years," Tree said. "For the Board to throw out my signature
because I'm 'not registered' is appalling, and it's clear I'm just one
of many the Board has disenfranchised."

WHO: MPP Executive Director Robert Kampia, MPP Director of
Government Relations Steve Fox, Sanho Tree

WHAT: Press conference to announce filing of "motion to
reconsider" with the Board of Elections and Ethics

WHERE: Outside the front doors of the Judiciary Square building
at 441 - 4th Street NW, followed by the delivery of the
motion in Suite 250-North

WHEN: Friday, August 16, at 11:00 a.m. EDT

VISUALS: Poster-size enlargements of petitions with falsely
rejected signatures, illustrating BOEE errors

The Marijuana Policy Project works to minimize the harm associated
with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that
are intended to prohibit such use. In association with Students for
Sensible Drug Policy, MPP will hold its first national conference --
featuring a special appearance by comedian Bill Maher -- on Nov. 8-10
in Anaheim, California. For more information, see http://www.mpp.org .