DEA ROUGHS UP DOCTORS

RE: your article on District Attorney Terence Hallinan's press conference
about the DEA raiding physicians who recommend marijuana ("Hallinan's pot
shots at feds," The Examiner, Nov. 6)

Hallinan obeys and enforces California's laws, and he expects everyone else
in his city to do the same. Even the DEA. He and Supervisor Mark Leno made
it clear the DEA is not welcome here.

Dr. Marion (Mollie) Fry wrote my recommendation and now the DEA has taken my
personal medical records along with those of nearly 5,000 other California
patients.

The records were taken at gunpoint on Sept. 28, 2001, while Dr. Fry, a
cancer and double mastectomy survivor, hands cuffed behind her back and face
in the dirt of her driveway, tried to calm her 14-year-old son (also cuffed
in the dirt).

Hallinan felt this raid on a licensed California physician was important
enough to invite Dr. Fry to come and speak. Imagine my disappointment not to
see a single word about this brave and compassionate Christian lady in your
article.

A remark about the Supreme Court's "blow" to medicinal marijuana was also
lacking total accuracy. The high court's decision in May was extremely
narrow, and while it wasn't particularly a good thing for medical cannabis,
it certainly is not a death knell, as some would explain it.

L.J. Carden, Concord