GROWERS RALLY FOR ONE OF THEIR OWN

UPPER LAKE - Dennis Perron, co-author of the law that made medical
marijuana legal in California, said Wednesday he believes Upper Lake
medical marijuana grower Eddy Lepp has put his life in jeopardy by openly
combating federal and local law enforcement officials.

"They're out to get him, obviously," said Perron from his home in the East
Bay when told that Lepp had been arrested for a third time early Wednesday
morning during a raid by a team of federal Drug Enforcement Administration
officers and Lake, Sonoma, and Mendocino county officials.

Until Wednesday, Lepp was free on bail, pending his trial in federal court
for charges stemming from an August 2004 raid of his Upper Lake property.
"They're going to kill him," Perron said repeatedly of Lepp. "I don't
know if he wants to be a martyr, but he has set himself up as one." Perron,
who in 1996 joined in writing state Proposition 215, "The Compassionate Use
Act" making marijuana (cannabis) legal in California as a treatment for
illnesses ranging from cancer to migraine headaches, said he recently
pulled back from the battle over legalizing marijuana.

The reason he gives is the increased intensity he says federal and local
law enforcement officials have added to the fight of keeping marijuana
illegal to keep their jobs.

"Let's get real, the whole war is on marijuana," he said. "It's not a war
on drugs - heroin and all that. Very few people use that stuff." Perron
likened the DEA's war on marijuana to Elliott Ness's Prohibition-era
campaigns to eradicate illegal liquor.

"It's a worldwide global industry to wipe out marijuana, bigger than anyone
can dream of," he said. "I don't think the state is involved; it's
obviously the feds, because these (DEA) agents ... what do you think they
make? They start out at fifty thou and go up from there.