MEDICAL POT ACTIVISTS ARRESTED

Advocates Protest Outside Conference

Armed with bullhorns and posters - and seemingly the will of voters -
dozens of medical marijuana activists staged a protest outside a
Mission Valley hotel yesterday.

The hour-long demonstration, called to counter a two-day drug-abuse
prevention conference under way at the Marriott, ended in a standoff
in the hotel parking lot.

Police arrested seven people on suspicion of trespassing, including
Kris Hermes, a lawyer for Americans for Safe Access, the Berkeley
group that organized the demonstration.

Craig McClain, a partially paralyzed 50-year-old man from Vista, was
cited and released at the scene because he uses an electric cart.
McClain broke into tears as he was ticketed.

"It's a dramatization of the fear patients face every day," said
Steph Sherer, the Americans for Safe Access executive director. "We
don't have a choice. We have to use this medication."

Police said the arrests had nothing to do with the conflict between
federal and state marijuana laws. The suspects simply refused to
leave when officers told them to disperse, Lt. Jerry McManus said.

"They didn't really commit any other violation," he said. "More than
likely, they'll be cited and released for a future court date."

Under California's Proposition 215, which passed with support from 56
percent of voters in 1996, qualified patients can use marijuana to
relieve symptoms caused by the effects of AIDS, cancer and other
ailments. The drug remains illegal under federal law.

The National Marijuana Initiative, a government effort to join police
and prevention groups in fighting drug abuse, concludes its annual
conference today. Conference officials said they sympathize with
patients, but they want to make sure drugs are not readily available
to children.

"When you don't have those controls, you have really unfettered
access," said John Redman of Californians for Drug-Free Youth, a San
Diego nonprofit that co-hosted the conference. "There's nobody
telling them how much they can or can't have."