One is the sheriff of Orange County, the most vocal law-and-order man in California's most conservative of counties. The other is a graying widow from Mission Viejo who lives five minutes up the freeway from the sheriff.
Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates and Anna Boyce might seem unlikely foes. But the 6-foot-4 sheriff and the 5-foot-1 nurse have squared off as leaders of opposing camps in the fight over Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot.
Boyce is a leading proponent of the ballot measure, which would allow Californians to grow and smoke pot for medical purposes if recommended by a doctor. She talks of seeing the drug work with her late husband, a straight-arrow former Elks Club member, who turned to cannabis to ease the nausea caused by chemotherapy for lung cancer.
Gates, statewide chairman of a broad coalition of police and others fighting the measure, sees a more ominous side to the initiative. He characterizes Proposition 215 as a "back door" effort to decriminalize pot.
"We see this purely as a legalization effort," Gates said. "They want a crack in the door. Once marijuana is there, then why not decriminalize heroin or whatever else?"
Along with a similar measure on the ballot in Arizona, the groundbreaking proposition is being watched nationwide. President Clinton's drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, has come out in opposition to Proposition 215, as has GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole.
The measure has drawn interest almost more for who supports it than the fundamental policy shift it proposes for the use of pot.
George Soros, a billionaire New York financier best known for his hundreds of millions in gifts to shore up democracy in the former Soviet bloc, is the biggest bankroller of Proposition 215, pumping $350,000 into the campaign.
Opponents have made much of Soros' dogged criticism of the long-running war on drugs and his suggestion that federal anti-drug money be devoted more to treatment of addicts and less toward putting them behind bars.
Foes also have gleefully turned the spotlight on the Aug. 4 raid by state narcotics agents of the Cannabis Buyers' Club, a San Francisco pot emporium that openly sold marijuana to 12,000 clients on the grounds of medical need.
Backers of Proposition 215 have criticized the raid as politically motivated, but have tried to distance themselves from Dennis Peron, the buyer's club guru and an early booster of Proposition 215. Proponents also suggest that the raid underscores a need for their initiative, lest more buyer's clubs sprout.
While scores of studies have been performed on the medicinal effects of marijuana, definitive proof of its benefits remains elusive.
Supporters say controlled clinical trials that would provide irrefutable evidence have been sidetracked by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and federal politics.
Even physicians opposed to the measure see a need. The California Medical Assn., which represents 34,000 physicians in the state, came out against Proposition 215 earlier this month, but also made a pointed plea for a foolproof study to end decades of medical debate.
"It's time the federal government, and organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, did the right thing by studying the medical uses of marijuana to see if it works and for what patients," said Dr. Jack E. McCleary, president. If those studies proved marijuana to be effective, McCleary said, the CMA would support efforts to expedite the drug's use in prescription form.
The proposition's supporters say marijuana eases the wasting effects of AIDS and cancer by easing nausea. They say it helps those on chemotherapy stay the course instead of joining the one-third that drop out because of the side effects. They also say it relieves eye pressure caused by glaucoma and can provide pain relief and medical benefits for other illnesses.
It is impossible, they argue, to ignore anecdotal evidence from the sick who have enjoyed relief because of marijuana.
Consider the story of Anna Boyce.
Boyce, 67, first came to the medical marijuana movement after the arrest of a prominent attorney in her hometown of Mission Viejo who used pot to alleviate symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Spurred by what she considered a gross injustice, Boyce began a push in 1994 to change state law, lobbying Sacramento lawmakers.
"Opponents say that marijuana is addictive, that it harms the immune system of the very ill," Boyce said. "I'm sorry, but that doesn't matter. These are dying people. It's insane not to give them something that helps."
For two straight years, Boyce and her allies pushed medical marijuana bills through the Legislature with bipartisan support, only to see them vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson. Those rejections prompted the ballot measure.
