TOP MARIJUANA COUNTY NOW HAS SYMPATHETIC VIEWS IN HIGH PLACES

UKIAH, Calif. -- The rule of law seems to have a weak hold in this county of
spectacular forests, canyons, rocky coastal cliffs and some of the finest
marijuana in the world.

In Mendocino County, pot is the biggest cash crop and the new district
attorney is an ex-con.

"People tell me one of two things," said District Attorney-elect Norman
Vroman. "It's either, 'I wish I had the guts to do what you did against the
IRS,' or it's 'How in world do you believe you can be the top prosecutor if
you've served time in federal prison?"'

Vroman, a lawyer, served nine months behind bars during the early 1990s for
failing to pay several thousand dollars in income taxes.

Last week, Vroman, running on a platform that included decriminalization of
marijuana, defeated a three-term incumbent who was president-elect of the
California District Attorney Association.

This rugged county of 52,000 people 100 miles north of San Francisco also
elected a new sheriff, Tony Craver, who also backs decriminalization.

In Vroman's case, voters were displeased with the incumbent's handling of a
big murder case in which a sheriff's deputy on stakeout was shot to death.
The defendant was acquitted.

But the folksy and engaging Vroman also was seen admiringly as a rebel. And
Craver has a blunt, genial manner that went over well with people and was
seen as having deeper roots in the county than the previous sheriff, who
spent a decade in Los Angeles County.

A lanky, mustachioed, by-the-book sheriff's officer, the 61-year-old Craver
has busted drug dealers and growers for years in an area where the famously
potent marijuana retails for $5,000 a pound.

But he also believes marijuana use should be decriminalized.
Decriminalization could reduce marijuana use from a misdemeanor under state
law, which can bring a jail term, to the equivalent of a traffic offense,
which normally carries only a fine.

Commercial growers and traffickers should be prosecuted, but "if you light
up a joint in your home, who are you hurting?" Craven said.

However, both he and Vroman said their personal views on marijuana use will
not affect their official duties.

"It's illegal. If he arrests them, I'll prosecute them," Vroman said.
Mendocino County has produced more marijuana since 1995 than any of
California's 57 other counties.

Last year, state and local agents in helicopters and ground squads raided
340 pot plantations in Mendocino County and seized $204 million worth of
weed. Authorities believe that for every plant they find, there are perhaps
10 more out there.

The county's ilolated hollows are ideal for secret pot gardens that yield
marijuana highly prized by aficionados.

"It's considered about the best in the world, if not the best. It's about 10
to 25 times more potent than the marijuana of the 1960," said state Justice
Department spokesman Mike Van Winkle.

Checked-by: Don Beck