NEW MARIJUANA CHARGES FOR FOUR FROM POT CLUB ARRESTS IN FEB.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Four men arrested in a Bay Area marijuana sweep last month
have been indicted on additional charges by a federal grand jury in San
Francisco.

Three defendants -- Kenneth Hayes of Petaluma, Richard Watts of San
Francisco and Edward Rosenthal of Oakland -- are allegedly associated with
the Harm Reduction Center, a medical marijuana club in San Francisco.

They were indicted Thursday on a new charge of conspiring to cultivate more
than 1,000 marijuana plants in addition to counts of marijuana cultivation.

The fourth defendant, James Halloran of Oakland, was charged in a separate
indictment with cultivating more than 1,000 plants, growing marijuana within
1,000 feet of a playground and maintaining premises at East 12th Street in
Oakland for the purpose of growing marijuana.

All four were arrested on Feb. 12. Hayes was arrested in Canada and the
others were apprehended in the Bay Area.

The indictments replace criminal complaints issued on Feb. 12 that charged
each man with growing marijuana and maintaining premises for the purpose of
marijuana cultivation.

Rosenthal and Halloran are scheduled to be arraigned by a federal magistrate
in San Francisco on Monday and Watts is to be arraigned on Tuesday. Hayes is
still in Canada, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Hayes, 34, was tried and acquitted last year in Sonoma County Superior Court
on state law charges of marijuana cultivation and sales.

He is described in an affidavit filed last month by a U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration agent as the operator of the Harm Reduction Center and the
head of an organization that allegedly cultivates and distributes "large
amounts of domestically grown marijuana."

In addition to the conspiracy count, Hayes is accused in the indictment of
growing more than 100 marijuana plants in Petaluma, cultivating more than
1,000 plants in San Francisco and maintaining premises at 52 Sixth St. in
San Francisco, the site of the Harm Reduction Center, for the purpose of
cultivating marijuana.

Rosenthal, 57, the author of several books on marijuana cultivation and a
columnist for the magazine Cannabis Culture, is described in the affidavit
as a marijuana cultivator who produces marijuana for Hayes.

The indictment charges him with maintaining premises at a former warehouse
on Mandela Parkway in Oakland for the purpose of marijuana cultivation,
growing more than 100 plants and conspiring with the other defendants to
grow more than 1,000 plants.

Watts is described in the affidavit as a Harm Reduction Center employee who
allegedly distributes marijuana for Hayes. He is charged with conspiring to
grow more than 1,000 plants, growing more than 1,000 plants and maintaining
the premises at 52 Sixth St. for the purpose of cultivating marijuana.