ADLER INDICTED ON EIGHT DRUG CHARGES

A grand jury on Wednesday indicted marijuana activist Jonathan Adler on
eight drug charges.

Adler, 49, was already scheduled to go to trial next month on similar
charges stemming from an arrest in 1998.

The latest grand jury indictment charges Adler with commercial promotion of
marijuana, six counts of promoting a detrimental drug and one count of
possessing drug paraphernalia. If convicted on all counts and if the
sentences run back to back, he faces as many as 45 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Riki May Amano ordered a bench warrant for Adler's arrest and
set bail at $9,000. She agreed with Deputy Prosecutor Tharrington
Trusdell's request that terms of bail will include random drug testing and
an order to stay away from drugs or drug paraphernalia.

Adler is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 20 for second - degree promotion
of marijuana, a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He
plans to present a religious defense, contending that he is a minister in
the Religion of Jesus Church and that his church requires marijuana as a
sacrament.

The written indictment on the latest charges wasn't filed in court by the
end of Wednesday but Adler said it stems from a visit by a rookie police
officer on Dec. 23, 1999. "This was probably when they sent the undercover
cop in when he lied about being a member of the church and lied about his
back pain," Adler said after learning about the indictment. "When he smoked
the holy sacrament with me, he accepted the mandate of the church ...

"There's never been a crime except for the one that's been created by the
police against me."

Adler, a familiar face at County Council meetings when marijuana
eradication issues are on the agenda, launched two failed campaigns for
mayor and one for a County Council seat.