PROTESTERS TARGET DEA OFFICES OVER MEDICAL POT CRACKDOWN

OAKLAND -- In a scene echoed in cities from coast to coast, more than 100
protesters decrying a federal crackdown on medical marijuana forced the
city's federal office building to close most of its doors Thursday.

The protesters tried to deliver "cease and desist" orders to the Drug
Enforcement Administration's office, commanding the DEA to stop raiding
medical marijuana clubs, as it has in Los Angeles last October, in San
Francisco this February and in Santa Rosa last week.

DEA offices in the latter two cities were besieged Thursday too, each
attracting about 150 protesters. An unknown number of protesters went to
the San Jose DEA office. Seven San Francisco protesters were cited for
failure to disperse and released.

The DEA said it was unfazed.

"It is the right of all American citizens to demonstrate peacefully in
support of their beliefs," said Special Agent Richard Meyer, the agency's
Bay Area spokesman. "As far as we are concerned, federal law remains the
same and our mission has not changed."

But Oakland protesters said forcing Federal Protective Service officers to
seal most of the building's entrances was a moral victory, and they
promised that any DEA raids from now on will be met with coordinated
grass-roots resistance and civil disobedience.

"You keep closing doors on us, we're going to close doors on you," longtime
medical marijuana activist Debbie Goldsberry of Berkeley vowed through a
loudspeaker. "We're not going to tolerate zero tolerance anymore."

California voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, in
1996 to legalize medical marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation.
Federal authorities insist the drug remains illegal for all purposes under
the Controlled Substances Act.

"The people of California have spoken, and it's outrageous for the federal
government to continue to undermine our democratic process," Oakland City
Councilwoman Nancy Nadel told Oakland protesters Thursday, pledging her
support.

Protesters, some wearing wreaths of fake marijuana leaves, hoisted picket
signs with slogans such as "I'm a patient, not a criminal" and "DEA go
away." They cheered as passing vehicles -- including an AC Transit bus and
a City of Oakland van -- honked in encouragement.

Don Duncan of Americans for Safe Access, which organized the nationwide
protest, led a few protesters to the federal building's other side, where
government workers were filing through a single door under uniformed
officers' watchful eyes. Duncan and his party were denied entry.

"The building is closed to the public," an officer said. "There's nobody
here from DEA who can see you today. It's open to employees only."

Duncan immediately dialed the Oakland DEA office on his cell phone, asking
either to be allowed upstairs or for someone to come down and accept the
"cease and desist" orders he was trying to "serve." He was put on hold
several times, and eventually they hung up on him.

Upon returning to the rally, Duncan urged the protesters to monitor news
reports carefully for future DEA raids, and if there is one, to rush to the
site to protest and bear witness. There will be a protest outside the
federal building at noon on the day after any local raid, he said. "The
federal government is hereby on notice: We will not tolerate any more raids
in California."