S.F. ARTIST FOUND NOT GUILTY OF LSD CONSPIRACY

Man Acquitted 2nd Time, Says Case Was Persecution Of His Art

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A San Francisco artist whose vivid work uses 1960s-era
LSD imagery and paper walked away Friday from federal drug charges a free
man for the second time in nine years.

Mark T. McCloud, 47, was acquitted by a Kansas City jury of charges of
conspiracy to distribute LSD and distributing the psychedelic drug near a
school. A Houston judge dismissed similar charges against McCloud in 1992.

Smiling broadly after the verdicts, McCloud said the government's pursuit
of him amounted to persecution of his art.

McCloud prints colorful images -- such as cartoons or the face of the late
acid guru Timothy Leary -- on the same kind of perforated blotter paper
used to deliver a dose of LSD.

``This was about the circulation of blotter art as an art form,'' McCloud
said. ``Thank God the people of Kansas City can tell the difference between
art and LSD.''

If convicted, McCloud could have faced life imprisonment.

McCloud's attorney, Doron Weinberg of San Francisco, contended throughout
the trial that none of the artwork contained LSD, pointing to 33,000 sheets
of untreated blotter paper and framed examples of blotter art seized from
McCloud's home and stacked in the courtroom.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office defended the government's case
against McCloud.

``We felt strongly we had evidence to support convictions, but we respect
the jury system,'' Chris Whitley said. ``Obviously, the jury did not agree
with us.''

Mike Oliver, assistant U.S. attorney, argued during the two-week trial that
McCloud used his work as a recognized -- if unconventional -- artist as a
cover to distribute LSD throughout the country. The case was tried in
Kansas City because blotter paper linked to McCloud and impregnated with
LSD was seized in a 1999 raid near a school at 73rd Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue.