DEA DEFENDS METHODS

Pro-Marijuana Activists Cry Foul At Agent Bypassing Channels To Scrutinize
Series Of Political Ads

UKIAH - Rejecting allegations of snooping on pro-marijuana activists, the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration on Monday defended its effort to
obtain transcripts of a series of political ads aired on a Ukiah radio
station in support of an initiative to decriminalize pot.

"It was just part of a routine gathering of information about marijuana
ballot-related issues across the U.S.," said Jocelyn Barnes, a spokeswoman
for the DEA's San Francisco office.

Barnes acknowledged Monday that federal agent Mark Nelson bypassed the
county election office, where information about Mendocino County's Measure
G and other ballot measures and candidates is readily available. She said
Nelson was under specific orders to secure from radio station K-Wine, 94.5
FM Ukiah, the transcripts of a series of four pro-Measure G ads, including
one saying that "Clinton smoked it. So did Bush and Gore."

"Headquarters wanted actual transcripts of the radio ads. That's all I can
say. It was done at their request," said Barnes.

The DEA's Washington, D.C. headquarters did not respond Monday to requests
for comment on the information gathering done by agent Nelson.

If passed, Measure G would become the first initiative in the nation to
decriminalize marijuana cultivation and possession for individual use.
Local law enforcement authorities, however, say they will continue to
follow state and federal laws even if Measure G wins a majority vote at the
polls today.

Guidren Dye, co-owner of the radio station, said Monday the station
voluntarily turned over the transcripts last week to Nelson, who asked that
they be faxed to his San Francisco office. "There was no demand. It came in
the form of a request. We decided to provide copies just as we would
anyone," said Dye.

But organizers of the Green Party-sponsored marijuana initiative cried foul
Monday, contending that while the radio station voluntarily turned over the
transcripts, the federal agency's request raises constitutional questions.

Wrong Place To Go

"If the DEA was just conducting a review of marijuana-related ballot
measures around the country, the place to find out that kind of information
is at county election departments and not in the offices of radio stations
or any other news media," said former Rep. Dan Hamburg of Ukiah.

Hamburg, who left the Democratic Party and joined the Green Party after
losing his 1996 re-election bid, helped create and pay for the series of
radio ads.

Hamburg said Monday that the DEA's "intrusion into the affairs of Mendocino
County citizens is typical of why people have become so cynical about the
government's war on drugs."

Hamburg said he was especially troubled when he learned it was agent Nelson
who sought transcripts of the ads. "I think his record speaks for itself,"
said Hamburg.

Nelson figured prominently in an earlier marijuana case that included a
bizarre twist.

Judge Ruled Out Tapes

At the end of a July, 1999, federal court hearing in the trial of a
Mendocino County man accused of leading a marijuana-growing ring, a federal
judge concluded that Nelson had gone too far in persuading the suspect's
then-wife to install a tape recorder in their bed.

Judge Susan Illston refused to allow government prosecutors to use the
tapes as evidence against William Dalton during his trial. Dalton was later
convicted by a federal jury of marijuana cultivation and sentenced to state
prison.

During the pre-trial hearing, Nelson under oath admitted drinking beer with
and kissing Virginia Horstman, Dalton's wife, during an encounter at a DEA
safe house in Ukiah. He also admitted falsifying federal documents relating
to their encounter.

Nelson testified that the DEA paid Horstman $4,800 in expenses to move to
the state of Washington after their involvement in Mendocino County.

"This is the same agent who a year later is asking a radio station for
transcripts of political advertising, which is clearly none of the DEA's
business," said Hamburg. "What's going on here?"

Nelson could not be reached Monday for comment on his role in the flap or
on Hamburg's comments.