U.S., STATES IN CONFLICT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS

SAN FRANCISCO - "Liar! Liar!" came the voices from the crowd.

Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson stopped short, caught
midsentence. He had started by saying: "Science has told us so far there is
no medical benefit for smoking marijuana."

Hutchinson pushed on with his message, reiterating President Bush's newly
aggressive anti-drug policy, which links casual drug use to terrorism and
objects to state laws, such as the one in California, that allow the
medicinal use of marijuana.

Just hours before Hutchinson's appearance Feb. 12, federal agents - with no
help from San Francisco police - seized more than 600 pot plants from a
medicinal marijuana club. They also arrested the group's executive director
and three suppliers, including pot guru Ed Rosenthal, author of Ask Ed:
Marijuana Law. Don't Get Busted.

The federal raids have angered and alarmed officials in San Francisco.

On the day Hutchinson spoke, a half dozen city officials joined a
boisterous street protest against the DEA. Even District Attorney Terence
Hallinan grabbed a bullhorn and criticized the raids as demonstrators, some
in wheelchairs and on crutches, chanted, "DEA, go away!" and marijuana
smoke wafted through the air.

Opponents of Washington's stand on marijuana said the raids may be a
precursor to showdowns in at least seven other states that have also passed
laws in conflict with the federal ban on pot.

"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.

DEA spokesman Richard Meyers in San Francisco countered: "You know,
personally my heart goes out to someone who has cancer or AIDS, and I'm
sure they're just trying to alleviate their pain, but federal law does not
make a distinction between medical marijuana and marijuana, and the DEA has
a commitment and duty to the public to enforce the law."

ONLINE: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
www.natlnorml.org

DEA, www.usdoj.gov/ dea