STATES USING ROPE-A-DOPE STRATEGY ON MARIJUANA

Little by little, initiatives and legislatures are putting federal drug
policy on the defensive.

The movie "Saving Grace" is a sweet English comedy abut a genteel widow who
grows marijuana to fight off financial ruin.

There's a jovial scene where a starchy doctor, a local constable and dowdy
garden-club ladies all get high as kit4s. Lurking in the background are
humorless government authorities intent on closing down the merriment.

Such conflict may soon be playing at a state legislature near you, if it
isn't there already. For several years now, states have been performing
rather elaborate fan dances to legalize marijuana without exposing
themselves to charges of being "soft on drugs."

There are a lot of sour faces opposing these efforts. The most powerful
belong to, of all people, officials in the Clinton
administration. Possession or distribution of Cannabis sativa remains a
federal felony. The feds in general are not at all happy about the growing
casual disregard for the evil weed. And there are jobs to protect in the
war against drugs.

The premier form of rebellion on the state level continues to be voter
initiative. This November, voters in Colorado and Nevada will have their
turn at chipping pieces off the federal drug laws. If the ballot measures
pass, these states will join California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona,
Alaska, Maine and Hawaii in allowing doctors to recommend marijuana for
patients with certain illnesses.

The fight is spilling over into courtrooms, too. Last month, the U.S.
Supreme Court barred California's "cannabis clubs" from openly distributing
marijuana to patients. But last week, a federal judge in San Francisco
ruled that federal officials may not stop California doctors from
discussing marijuana's medical benefits or promoting its therapeutic use.

State legislatures have begun to take the issue over from the more raucous
world of ballot initiatives. In June, Hawaii became the first state to
sanction the use and possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes through
legislation.

What's really going on is a revolution in American thinking about marijuana
specifically and perhaps illicit drugs generally. Attacks on the marijuana
laws tend to highlight causes more noble than expanding the right to get
stoned. You can hardly beat reducing pain and nausea in cancer patients as
an attractive argument for legalizing pot.

And in the name of helping farmers, several states now support the planting
of industrial hemp. This noneuphoric cousin of marijuana can be made into
rope, paper, salad oil and any number of useful products. Because of its
similarity to the stuff that Clinton says he didn't inhale, though,
industrial hemp is also banned by the federal government.

Maryland recently became the fourth state - after Hawaii, North Dakota and
Minnesota - to allow farmers to grow the crop. The Illinois Senate has
directed the state university to conduct research on hemp
production. Virginia last year called on federal officials to allow the
state to run an experiment in hemp production.

Claims being made on behalf of the plant's virtues are not without
merit. But underlying them is a radical change in public attitudes: Many
Americans now regard smoking pot as a naughty but essentially harmless
activity. And they think law-enforcement resources could be put to better
use than prosecuting the taxpayer who lights up a joint.

There's one thing everyone should recognize. Once marijuana becomes widely
available, the cat will be out of the bag.

The road may not be straight, but the direction is pretty obvious. Some
day, the sale and possession of marijuana will be legal from sea to shining
sea.

Reach Froma Harrop by e-mail at fharrop@projo.com