WEST LOS ANGELES MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLINIC PRESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The head of a medical marijuana clinic pleaded guilty
Tuesday to federal charges of maintaining a drug establishment, becoming
the second clinic employee to agree to a plea bargain in the case.

Scott Imler, president of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, faces a
maximum of 20 years in prison but is expected to receive less time under
federal sentencing guidelines. He could be fined up to $500,000.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz scheduled Imler's sentencing for Nov.
24. Federal agents raided the clinic in October 2001, seizing computers,
financial documents, 400 marijuana plants, and medical records of some
3,000 current and former patients.

The center, which opened in 1996, was providing marijuana to about 900
patients suffering from AIDS, epilepsy, glaucoma, cancer and other serious
illnesses when it was shut down, Imler said.

To receive the marijuana, patients had to be referred by their physicians
and undergo a screening process.

Imler, an activist and cancer patient himself, said he did not have "any
hard feelings," adding, "In some ways we're proud of what we did. We think
we did a good job."

Jeffrey Farrington, the center's vice president, pleaded guilty in May to
the same charge and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.