PROTESTERS GREET DRUG CZAR IN S.F.

Stance On Medical Marijuana Draws Criticism From Crowd

SAN FRANCISCO -- White House drug czar John Walters received a chilly
welcome Monday as he brought his 25-city tour to the Bay Area -- dozens of
protesters blasted his stance against medical marijuana, and even his host
said he'd been disingenuous.

Walters held a news conference in the drug recovery center at the
Tenderloin's Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which he praised for "a
clear record of achievement" in helping addicts rebuild their lives.

He said he's touring the country's biggest cities to meet with local
officials and tour anti-drug programs so they can more effectively work
hand-in-hand with strategies, priorities and goals he sets as the Bush
administration's director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

But federal drug policy has clashed with California's policy for years, most
notably since the state passed a medical marijuana law in 1996. Federal law
still deems all marijuana cultivation, possession and use illegal, and
Californians who've believed themselves protected by state law have been
convicted of federal crimes. Walters said he met with San Francisco District
Attorney Terence Hallinan and several city and county supervisors.

"Our conversations have been relatively productive," he said, with all
parties wanting to bring more resources to bear more effectively against the
drug addiction and drug-related crime plaguing this and other cities. "There
have been some differences of opinion ... and we'll probably continue trying
to work those out."

But that won't mean softening the federal government's stance against
medical marijuana, he said.

"I can't say something is true that's not true and still be effective in my
job," he said. "I can't make it go away by lying, by saying, 'It's OK, it's
really medicine,' when it's not."

Walters said smoked marijuana has not met the government's testing standards
as a safe and efficacious drug, and he criticized deep-pocketed donors who
bankroll medical marijuana initiatives, "reprehensibly" using sick people's
suffering to argue in favor of drug legalization.

But Walters declined an invitation -- repeated to him publicly Monday by
Glide's pastor, the Rev. Cecil Williams -- to discuss the issue with local
medical marijuana activists at noon today, also at Glide Memorial.

Walters said he wants to debate initiative funders George Soros, Peter Lewis
and John Sperling, but they've refused, and he won't debate their "employees
or consultants. ... You get Soros here, and I'll be here."

Outside, about three dozen protesters bearing an effigy of Walters and signs
depicting him with a Pinocchio-length nose chanted, "No more lies, no more
arrests!"Williams came out to greet the crowd after Walters' car pulled away
under police escort.

"I think he was a little cautious about being so overt" in supporting
federal prosecution of medical marijuana providers, Williams said of
Walters. "I could tell he was fudging, there's no doubt about it."

And Williams was critical of Walters' refusal to debate today. "If it's
going to be solved, it will be solved on this level, with the people."

Steph Sherer, director of Berkeley-based Americans for Safe Access, said
Walters talks from both sides of his mouth by stating marijuana hasn't gone
through the federal drug-testing process.

"We would love for it to go through the process," she said. "The research is
there, and now we have to figure out how to get the medicine to people who
need it."