POT ADVOCATES REPLANT AFTER DEA RAID

Medical marijuana crop grown on Lake County farm

A group of medical marijuana advocates spent the weekend planting 130 new
cannabis plants at a farm in Lake County, two days after federal agents
confiscated a fully grown crop there.

The San Francisco group Californians for Compassionate Use, led by Dennis
Peron, had planned and publicized a weekend celebration -- a ``preharvest''
party for a crop of marijuana grown at a Lower Lake farm that was supposed
to bring relief to people with HIV, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis,
epilepsy and cancer.

But a preparty crash by 19 agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration changed those plans.

The federal agents, accompanied by a deputy from the Lake County sheriff's
department, showed up at the farm at 7:30 Friday morning with a search
warrant. The agents handcuffed several of the 12 people at the farm,
including Peron, and for the next 90 minutes proceeded to chop down the 130
plants, Peron said.

One of the detainees got sick, vomited and had to take prescription
medication during the raid, Peron said.

The Saturday and Sunday celebration was held anyway, Peron said. But
instead of ``harvesting'' a crop of pot, partygoers chopped vegetables in
the kitchen and planted a new crop of the outlawed herb.

``We're mad, but we're partying,'' Peron said.

Peron, who complained that people are being forced to purchase marijuana
for medical reasons on the black market, said only one plant survived the
DEA raid.

No one was arrested in the raid, the second at the farm within a
three-month period in which plants were taken but no arrests were made.

``They refuse to give us our day in court,'' Peron said.

Peron opened the farm late last year as a ``resort'' for sick and dying
people. The farm has eight bedrooms, small gardens and a pond.

1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A19

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)