DEA BUSTS POT CLUB OPERATION; FOUR ARRESTED

Federal agents raided a medical marijuana club and arrested four
people Tuesday amid an ongoing tug-of-war between local and federal
officials over the sale of pot for medicinal purposes.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 630 pot plants from the
Harm Reduction Center and arrested the group's executive director,
Richard Watts, said David Witty, the marijuana club's chief of
security.

Kenneth Hayes of Petaluma was arrested in Canada and Edward Rosenthal
of Oakland was also arrested on charges of cultivating more than 100
pot plants and maintaining a place to grow it, according to the U.S.
Attorney's Office. Each face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

A fourth man, James Halloran, of Oakland, was arrested in a separate
case, and charged with growing more than 1,000 marijuana plants and
also keeping a place to grow it. He faces life in prison if convicted.

DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said the arrests were part of an
investigation by the DEA, Customs Service and Internal Revenue
Service targeting marijuana trafficking and smuggling.

"They all are connected with marijuana smuggling," Meyer said. "We've
said all along the cultivation and distribution of marijuana is
illegal regardless of state or local law. Our job is to enforce
federal law."

The U.S. Supreme Court said last year that it is illegal to
distribute marijuana for medical purposes.

San Francisco law enforcement officials have said their job is to
enforce the laws of California, where voters overwhelmingly approved
medical marijuana use.

Voters in Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington have all approved ballot initiatives allowing
the use of medical marijuana. In Hawaii, the Legislature passed a
similar law and the governor signed it in 2000.

District Attorney Terence Hallinan has been outspoken in his support
of the clubs, and Police Chief Fred Lau has said his officers
wouldn't take part in any raids.

Workers at the pot club raided Tuesday said they were questioned by
DEA agents about their relationship with Hallinan.

"They asked us if he was receiving monies from us or drugs," Witty
said. "This is insane. What kind of city do you think we're operating
here, to think that we're smugglers or involved in some other
criminal activity?"

The center serves about 200 patients a day, all with doctors'
recommendations to get the drug. Many suffer chronic pain from AIDS
and cancer, Witty said.

Tuesday's raid is just one in a series of recent federal crackdowns
in California. Agents shut down a West Hollywood cannabis club in
October. Other federal actions include raiding a Ventura County
garden operated by patients, and seizure of medical records from a
Northern California doctor who is a prominent medical marijuana
proponent.

Tuesday's raid coincided with President Bush's announcement of a
stepped-up war on drugs, with a goal of cutting drug abuse by 25
percent in five years, in part through improved law enforcement.

The White House also launched an anti-drug advertising campaign,
broadcast first during the Super Bowl, with the message that money
used to buy drugs may benefit terrorists.

Protests were planned Tuesday evening outside the Commonwealth Club
in San Francisco, where DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson was to speak.