MARIJUANA ACTIVIST TO DROP LAWSUIT

Case Threatened His Participation On City Task Force

Medical marijuana activist Steve McWilliams said he has agreed to drop his
lawsuit against the city of San Diego with the hope that the City Council
will be more open to recommendations from a task force of which he is a
member.

"We feel it is so important for the city to adopt these guidelines that we
don't want to have any burr under the blanket of the City Council when they
look at this issue," he said after yesterday's council meeting.

McWilliams filed the lawsuit, alleging wrongful arrest and illegal
destruction of property, after police raided his Hillcrest marijuana garden
in July 1999. Police seized equipment and plants grown to serve 10 patients.

"What we really wanted all along was for the city's policies regarding
marijuana to be looked at," he said.

In May, McWilliams was appointed to a 12-member task force formed to develop
recommendations for implementing Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot measure
that legalized the medical use of marijuana in California.

Yesterday, McWilliams told the council he hopes its Public Safety and
Neighborhood Services Committee will consider the recommendations, similar
to those used by the city of San Francisco, before the holidays. However,
the issue is not on the committee's docket for this year.

McWilliams said he fired his San Francisco attorney, J. David Nick, over the
weekend, and informed the City Attorney's Office on Monday that he would be
dropping his lawsuit.

The city has yet to receive any formal notification to that effect, said
Maria Velasquez, spokeswoman for the City Attorney's Office.

Deputy City Attorney Mark Stiffler sent a letter to McWilliams in May
suggesting that he would be removed from the task force if he didn't drop
the lawsuit.

At the time, McWilliams said he felt threatened by the letter, but he was
never removed from the task force. Stiffler was replaced on the case by
Deputy City Attorney Jim Chapin.