MEDICAL POT CLUB RAIDED AS DEA LEADER VISITS S.F.

In a continuing crackdown, federal authorities raided a San Francisco
medical marijuana club yesterday, confiscating hundreds of plants and
arresting three Bay Area men who allegedly provided the drug to patients.

The men included Edward Rosenthal of Oakland, the author of more than a
dozen books on marijuana cultivation and a longtime columnist at High Times
magazine. He turned a former Carnation dairy in West Oakland into a
sophisticated pot farm, according to court documents.

The Drug Enforcement Agency also raided homes in San Francisco, Oakland and
Petaluma where hundreds of plants were allegedly grown.

Yesterday's bust focused on the Harm Reduction Center at 52 Sixth St.,
which served about 200 patients a day, including many with AIDS or cancer.
Under a plan developed with help from the district attorney's office, the
patients were required to show proof of a doctor's referral.

"They wiped us out, essentially," said David Witty, who runs the center
with Richard Watts.

Watts, Rosenthal and Kenneth Hayes of Petaluma were charged with
cultivating more than 100 plants and maintaining a place to grow pot. If
convicted, each faces up to 40 years in prison. Hayes was detained for
extradition in Vancouver, Canada.

The timing of the dawn bust -- 12 hours before DEA Administrator Asa
Hutchinson gave a speech on federal drug policy in San Francisco -- angered
marijuana advocates. But the raid spotlighted the Bush administration's
tougher stand on medical marijuana.

"At a time when everyone is on alert for terrorism, the DEA has decided to
go after chronically ill people who use marijuana," said Jeff Jones, head
of Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative.

After California voters approved medicinal marijuana under Proposition 215
in 1996, many local prosecutors have been reluctant to pursue medical pot
clubs. The Clinton administration wanted to close the clubs but focused
most criminal efforts on cocaine and heroin trafficking.

That has changed since President Bush took office and the U.S Supreme Court
affirmed last year that federal drug laws take precedence over Proposition 215.