CAMPAIGN A 'REEFERENDUM'

Gary Reams calls his candidacy for lieutenant governor "a reeferendum."

A vote for the Libertarian Party candidate is a vote for the need to reform
marijuana laws both in the state and the nation.

"I want to give Virginia voters a voice that the marijuana prohibition has
gone too far and that we need to go in another direction," he said during a
recent interview.

"When someone votes for Gary Reams, they're not voting for Gary Reams the
person or the Libertarian Party. The only thing they're voting for is the
reform of marijuana laws."

Reams knows he stands no chance of winning the election on Nov. 6, which
pits him against Democrat Timothy M. Kaine of Richmond and Republican Jay
Katzen, a state delegate from Fauquier County. But he says it's important
to make a point and to bring the issue to the public forefront.

Hence the "Reams Reeferendum."

"We're trying to get attention that the laws have gone too far, that the
prohibition has gone too far," said Jim Turney, Reams' campaign manager.
"It's up to the elected people of Virginia to decide what is more reasonable."

Reams, 45, is making his second bid for public office. He ran for the 10th
Congressional District seat in 1996 as the Libertarian candidate.

He served as chairman of the state Libertarian party in 1998 and 2000 and
stepped down to run for the state's No. 2 post.

In this race, he specifically chose the job of lieutenant governor "because
it's a largely ceremonial office. I thought it was one where the voters
would be willing to use that vote to send a message. It still leaves them
with the power to vote for offices where the people change the law and make
policy."

Reams says that neither major party has taken a stand on the issue, and
it's time to. As other Western nations are loosening their marijuana
regulations, the United States is tightening its laws.

"I'm not advocating any particular law or legalization or distribution
scheme. It's a general call for reform," said Reams, who does not smoke
marijuana but said he did when he was younger.

He became a Libertarian in 1992, switching from the Democratic Party.

"I'm a Quaker, and I found the nonaggressive principle of the Libertarian
Party appealing, the right to live your life" he said, as long as you don't
infringe on the right of someone else to make his own choice.


Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Mon, 29 Oct 2001
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2001 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact: letters@timesdispatch.com
Website: http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365
Author: Pamela Stallsmith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)