OLYMPIA Wealthy national advocates of legalizing marijuana have joined
the effort to liberalize Washington state drug laws.

Two men have contributed a total of $250,000 to Citizens for Drug Policy
Reform, enough money to hire people to circulate petitions.

The group also has rewritten the initiative to remove a provision that
would have allowed nurses, chiropractors or veterinarians to recommend
controlled drugs for medicinal purposes.

The initiative faces a July 3 deadline for collecting 179,248 signatures.

The paid signaturegathering strategy appears to be working. Secretary of
State Ralph Munro said yesterday he has been told that backers of
Initiative 685 already have collected enough signatures and may turn them
in before the deadline.

The initiative, which would be on the November ballot, would:

Allow doctors to recommend that patients use illegal drugs, including
marijuana, heroin and LSD for medicinal purposes.

Release from prison all nonviolent people convicted of drug possession.

Allow judges to require treatment, not prison, for drug users.

It also would require people convicted of a violent crime while under the
influence of drugs to serve their full sentence and not be eligible for
parole.

The contributions in April and May from Peter Lewis, an Ohio insurance
executive, and John Sperling, owner of a private Arizona university,
account for $250,000 of the $251,304 raised by Initiative 685, according
to records filed with the Public Disclosure Commission. Sperling
contributed $150,000, and Lewis $100,000.

"They're both very successful businessmen who have an interest in this
issue and it's entirely philanthropic," said campaign manager Madeline
Johnson.

Neither donor could be reached yesterday. Sperling did not return a
telephone call to his Phoenix office, and Lewis was traveling.

Last year, both men were among the most generous contributors to similar
campaigns in California and Arizona, giving hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Both those initiatives passed.

Sperling is president of Apollo Group, a Phoenix company that runs the
University of Phoenix, a private, accredited university. Much of its
degree work is done by students using the Internet.

According to an article in this week's Forbes magazine, the company has
revenue of $282 million with an annual net income of $30 million. Johnson
said Sperling is planning to open a Seattle branch of the university.

She said the signature gatherers, paid for with Sperling's and Lewis'
money, are necessary to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

"Unfortunately, what we've learned is, to mount one of these campaigns,
you really have to be able to pay," she said.

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, an antidrug crusader, said he wasn't surprised to
learn that large, outofstate contributions are paying for the campaign.

"They know they can buy this thing," he said, "and they know that we are
going to have a very difficult time matching that kind of money."

The initiative, which began as 683, was refiled as 685 after Owen
publicized the fact that it would not have required a doctor to recommend
drug use, but only a medical "practitioner."

Johnson said the initiative would allow only doctors to make
recommendations to patients, not to give them drugs.