AREA ACTIVISTS ARRESTED IN D.C.

Four Bay Area activists were among more than a dozen arrested Tuesday
for civil disobedience on the steps of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services in Washington, D.C., as they protested federal
marijuana policy.

Steph Sherer of Oakland, executive director of Berkeley-based
Americans for Safe Access; Stacey Swimme of Oakland; and John Shaw and
Alex Franco, both of San Francisco, were taken into custody but
released later in the day.

Several dozen protesters had turned out to demand the federal
government acknowledge marijuana has medical use and change its policies.

Americans for Safe Access on Monday filed a legal petition with HHS
claiming the department is violating the Data Quality Act, which
requires federal agencies to use sound science in developing policies
and disseminating information.