Detroit (08/04/04)-- The approval of a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana use in the city will have little practical effect, but it sends a strong signal in favor of changing state drug laws, the initiative's backers said.

As of early Wednesday, 100 percent of the vote shows 60 percent, or 47,093 votes, were in favor of Proposal M, while 40 percent, or 31,868 votes, were against.

The vote changes the city code and creates an exception to the marijuana ban for people who use the drug for medical purposes under a doctor's direction.

It has no effect on federal and state laws that allow prosecution of those possessing or using marijuana.

Those who back the change admit their victory is largely symbolic and said they will use it to push for revision of Michigan law.

Timothy Beck, founder of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care, which collected the necessary signatures to put the measure on the ballot, said he was not surprised by the outcome.

"It's very hard to find people who are against this," he said.

Beck said his group will work with lawmakers to put the issue before the state Legislature or push for a statewide ballot initiative in 2006.

"We're just going to let this message resonate, and it is a substantial message," Beck said. "Sophisticated persons that vote in primaries overwhelmingly support medical marijuana."

Opponents of the ballot initiative said it would send the wrong message to young people about drug use and is part of a push for broader legalization of marijuana.

A spokesman for the Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit, which had campaigned against the measure, did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment on the results.

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state have passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The U.S. Supreme Court said in June that it will rule on the issue in the case of two California women who say marijuana is the only drug that eases their chronic pain.

Residents of Ann Arbor are to vote on the issue in November.