Subject: Local Support grows for Initiative 57
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 1997 13:10:38 -0400 (EDT)

contact Steve Michael at 202.547.9404
Local support for DC medical marijuana initiative 57 grows

Washington, DC--Last week, billionaire Republican former presidential
candidate Steve Forbes announced a major media campaign against local efforts
by the DC AIDS activist group ACT UP gathering signatures for Initiative 57.
 The DC ballot measure protects from criminal prosecution seriously ill
patients, such as cancer and AIDS sufferers, who use marijuana for medical
treatment.  

 Despite Forbes' foray into DC politics, local support for Initiative 57 is
growing.  At their Convention held on Saturday, July 19, the Ward Six
Democrats voted to endorse Initiative 57.  The initiative sponsor, ACT UP
organizer Steve Michael, who HIV positive and recently ran in the Ward Six
Council election, is working to gain the support of community organizations
throughout the District.  

 Last week, Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, founder of the African
American Catholic Congregation, lent his support to Initiative 57, agreeing
to serve on ACT UP's executive steering committee.  Stallings ran a close
second in the recent DC Council election in Ward Six as the candidate of the
Umoja Party.  

 The DC Green Party, whose members successfully placed Ralph Nader on last
year's presidential ballot, have added their organization's support to
Initiative 57.  They are joined by the nation's oldest Gay rights
organization, DC's Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), and the HIV
Community Coalition.

 In a news release from his group Americans for Hope, Growth, and
Opportunity, Steve Forbes called the organizers of Initiative 57 "twisted
drug predators."

 ACT UP's Michael responded angrily, "How dare Steve Forbes spend the
inheritance from his Gay father fighting a measure that would help people
with AIDS."

 GLAA's President Rick Rosendell comments, "Steve Forbes supposedly believes
in limited government, yet he wants the government to intervene in the
relationship between doctors and patients."

 ACT UP organizers report that they have collected over 25% of the 16,700
signatures required to place Initiative 57 on the September 1998 ballot.
 "This is a local, patient-driven effort.  We're grassroots and
all-volunteer." says Michael.  "Steve Forbes and the Family Research Council
are formidable opponents with virtually unlimited resources.  It's a
challenge.  But those of us living with HIV and AIDS are used to challenges."
 The petitions are due to be turned in on December 8.  Volunteers are needed
for a massive effort in the coming weeks.  Call the ACT UP office at
202.547.9404 for petition sheets.

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
ACT UP Washington DC
409 H Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
for immediate release
July 20, 1997