SUPES TO FEDS: POT OK IN THE CITY

If you're sick, say local officials, smoke pot.

Smoke pot, say the feds, and we'll bust you.

While the war in Afghanistan absorbs most of the public's attention, this
smaller, yet volatile, conflict over medicinal cannabis continues to rage in
California.

San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno will deliver the latest lick today when
he requests that local authorities not cooperate with federal drug
enforcement officials.

"It's important for us to communicate to (federal authorities), 'Don't waste
your time here,'" Leno said Monday in an interview. "In the words of our
district attorney, 'Hands off.' "

Officially and unofficially, San Francisco has supported marijuana users'
rights since the early 1970s. Five years ago local voters helped approve --
by 78 percent -- state Proposition 215, "the Compassionate Use Act of 1996,"
one of the broadest provisions for legal cannabis use in U.S. history.

Leno's resolution reaffirms The City's and state's commitment to people who
use marijuana for medical purposes, he said.

It also pits local government against Big Brother. Federal law outlaws
marijuana use without exception, and the current Bush administration has
shown that it intends to enforce the law, even in California.

"There's a discrepancy between federal law and local law," said Richard
Meyer, a spokesman for the San Francisco branch of the Drug Enforcement
Administration. "I'm sure that Supervisor Leno knows that federal law
applies."

Last month, DEA chief Asa Hutchinson fulfilled his pledge during Senate
confirmation hearings to crack down on medical marijuana clubs, sending
agents to raid a medical cannabis club in West Hollywood on Oct. 25; they
seized equipment, documents, and hundreds of cannabis plants.

In September agents stormed the California Medical Research Center in Cool,
a town in the Sierra foothills, where they also made seizures.

"Our job is to enforce federal laws," Meyer said. "Even if we agree with
(Leno), we have a job to do."

The office of Interim U.S. Attorney for Northern California, David W.
Shapiro, referred all inquiries to the U.S. Department of Justice in
Washington, D.C., which could not be reached by press time.

Shapiro's office has not prosecuted criminal possession of marijuana cases
"in the recent past," however, said spokesman Matt Jacobs.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles said that no one has been
charged in connection with October's West Hollywood raid, but it remains a
possibility.

"(Prop 215) is not as broad as people think," said U.S. Attorney spokesman
Thom Mrozek.

Leno's resolution, which would declare San Francisco a "sanctuary" for
medicinal cannabis use, could put local law enforcement agents in an awkward
spot.

The San Francisco Police Department, for example, has two investigators
assigned to a DEA task force -- as it has for 20 years, a police spokesman
said. If the resolution passes, the task force would violate The City's
policy.

Spokesman Dewayne Tully did not say how police would respond should the
resolution pass, and Sgt. Kevin Cashman, head of the police narcotics unit,
was unavailable for comment.

"The policy right now is that we work with the DEA," Tully said.

However, Tully also said that SFPD officers do not book anyone in possession
of cannabis who can prove they use it for medical purposes. Users of
"hard-core drugs -- heroin, crack" are the priority, he said.

Local police occasionally arrest and charge people who cannot prove that
their marijuana is for medical use, he said, adding, "All of this is on a
case-by-case basis."

San Francisco cannabis clubs welcome Leno's resolution and some defiantly
ignore the possibility of DEA raids, which are always unannounced.

"I'm not sure that I should allow that to enter into my reality," said
Richard Evans of San Francisco Patients and Caregivers. "I'm not aware of
them or what their powers are. You can put people in jail, but you cannot
change the fact that (voters approved) Prop 215."

Leno's resolution is all but certain to pass. Eight of eleven supervisors
are co-sponsors.