MEDICAL POT BACK ON BURNER

Picking on AIDS and cancer patients just ain't gonna win any public
relations battles, say Bay Area pot club proprietors, responding to plans
by the new head of the Drug Enforcement Agency to get tough on medical
marijuana.

Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, said he
"wants to send the right signal" on medical marijuana, during his swearing
in ceremony Monday at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Va.

"Currently, it's a violation of federal law," said Hutchinson. "The
question is how you address that from an enforcement standpoint."

"You're not going to tolerate a violation of the law, but at the same time
there are a lot of different relationships... a lot of different aspects
that we have to consider as we develop that enforcement policy."

Hutchinson's statements aren't exactly causing Jeff Jones' knees to shake,
but the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative founder said he expects to see
an increased federal presence within the next few months.

Jones said the East Bay club has not been dispensing marijuana for some
time now, collateral damage from a federal injunction that made its way to
the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Bush is finally showing his true conservative bent, said Jones,
who added he was not surprised by the announcement. The DEA's traditional
role has been to oppose the medical use of marijuana, so there would be no
reason for them to suddenly change their stripes.

"It may, in the end, be a blessing," he said. "We're not getting any
movement at the federal level. If a crackdown on cannabis clubs causes a
negative public reaction, that may be enough to change the law."

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, who helped write
Proposition 215, the 1996 medical marijuana ballot initiative, said he was
taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Bush administration's policies on
cannabis.

"We'll hold our breath, keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best," he
said.

Jim Green, who runs the Market Street Club, muttered "Oh, I'm getting
constipated now," when told of Hutchinson's announcement. There is plenty
of room for the medical use of marijuana while still enforcing drug laws
against recreational users, Green said.

"I would hope the federal government would take into account the sick and
dying in their enforcement," he said.

Sick people should have access to marijuana, proponents say, just as people
in terrible pain should have access to morphine. Green said that doesn't
mean he supports people shooting up in the streets. There is a difference
between fun and medicine, he said, and the federal government needs to
acknowledge this.

"There is a real, justified reason for people to use medical marijuana," he
said. "I would hate to see us thrown in jail for the sake of politics."

Examiner wire services contributed to this report