CANNABIS GROUPS FEAR DEA RAIDS

East Bay Medical Marijuana Users and the State Are Butting Heads with the
Government Over Ambiguous Laws

East Bay users of medical marijuana are still smoking, but anxiety has
clouded the air since federal agents raided a cannabis club across the Bay.

The heated debate over marijuana is again simmering. While club officials
and users cite a state initiative that allows the seriously ill to use
marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration maintains federal law
prohibits it.

"You know, personally my heart goes out to someone who has cancer or AIDS,
and I'm sure they are just trying to alleviate their pain, but federal law
does not make a distinction between medical marijuana and marijuana," said
DEA spokesman Richard Meyers.

In recent months, federal agents have raided three California cannabis
clubs, seizing thousands of plants. On Feb. 12, the DEA dynamited the door
of the Harm Reduction Center in San Francisco. Four men were indicted in
connection with that bust.

Marijuana-growing guru Edward Rosenthal, 56, and James Halloran, 61, were
charged with manufacturing marijuana and maintaining the premises to do so.

Richard Watts, 47, executive director of the San Francisco club, was
charged with manufacturing and cultivating marijuana. All have since posted
bail.

A fourth suspect, Kenneth Hayes, is in Canada, according to the U.S.
attorney's office.

Local residents and city officials, including San Francisco District
Attorney Terence Hallinan, were outraged at the raid and gathered in the
streets to protest the DEA's action.

The U.S. attorney's office stands by the charges, saying the men are
trafficking in illegal drugs. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
federal anti-drug laws supersede laws allowing marijuana to be used as
medicine in eight states.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said unprecedented challenges to homeland
security make this prime time for a crackdown on illegal drugs. He cites
President Bush's newly aggressive anti-drug policy, which links casual use
to terrorism.

"I think the goals here are to stomp out this emerging political movement
once and for all," said Keith Stroup, director of the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "The way they're trying to do that is to
come into San Francisco, at the heart of the legalization movement, and
arrest, prosecute and jail the major players."

Don Duncan, director of the Berkeley Patient's Group on San Pablo Avenue,
said he is fearful.

"I am supplying the sick," he said, leaving the smoke-filled club. "Nothing
I am doing is illegal. But we are definitely on heightened alert because of
what's happened."

Voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996 without medical research showing
benefits or data regarding how much a patient needs. The guidelines for
cannabis prescriptions remain ambiguous, and that has created problems.

A bill signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis may help. It funded a $9 million
research program that will conduct tests to determine if smoking cannabis
can help AIDS and multiple sclerosis patients by easing pain or treating
nausea.

The three-year program will begin March 27 at the University of
California's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.

The marijuana for testing will come from the National Institute of Drug
Abuse, which controls the only unambiguously legal source of marijuana in
the nation. It is grown at the University of Mississippi.

Prop. 215 proponents say approval of the study by the federal government
shows an awareness that research could provide guidance. They hope the
information will help settle the fight, using scientists rather than judges.

In the meantime, advocates are calling on the public to pressure Congress
to pass the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act.

The bill, introduced in July by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would stop
federal agents from interfering with state-authorized marijuana programs
and move the drug to the federal Schedule II, alongside such drugs as
morphine and cocaine, which physicians can prescribe.

The bill is pending in the House health subcommittee.

Associated Press contributed to this story.