LUNGREN: STOP SELLING MARIJUANA TRADING CARDS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California Attorney General Dan Lungren is urging a
producer of trading cards that feature marijuana plants to stop making and
selling those cards.

In a letter to the president of In Line Trading Cards and Magazines, and
released Wednesday, Lungren stressed that the ``Classic In Line Hemp
Cards'' are marketed to children in retail stores.

``Obviously, children are the most common consumers of trading cards and
using slick, full-color cards to glamorize marijuana is an overtly cynical
attempt to promote marijuana use to children while turning a profit for
yourself,'' Lungren wrote in a letter signed by 21 other state attorneys
general.

Officials for the San Francisco-based trading card company could not be
reached for comment Wednesday. The company's home page on the Internet
says, ``We believe that the secular laws banning a natural, God-given plant
are morally and philosophically indefensible.''

Lungren, a Republican who is running for governor, has previously called on
manufacturers of violent video games to withdraw their products. Lungren
also was a leading opponent of Proposition 215, a successful ballot
initiative that legalized using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The California Citizens Compensation Commission, which sets the salaries
and benefits of elected state officials, was scheduled Thursday to hold the
first in a series of meetings on a variety of pay-related issues.

The issues include the extra pay provided to legislative leaders, the
relationship between state officials' salary levels, living expense
payments for legislators, possible guidelines for future cost-of-living
increases and whether legislators' salaries should be based in part on
whether they pass a state budget on time.

The commission said it will accept public testimony at the meeting, which
is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the first-floor auditorium at 400 R St.