Pubdate: Mon, 16 Feb 2004
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Author: Glenn Chapman, Staff Writer
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://safeaccessnow.org/

ACTIVISTS PLANT POT SEEDS AT CITY HALL

Medical Marijuana Users Protest City's Proposed Limits

OAKLAND -- Medical marijuana advocates dipped into burlap sacks filled
with cannabis seeds and planted a pot crop on the City Hall lawn
Sunday to protest a proposal to tighten restrictions on "Oaksterdam"
dispensaries.

Two dozen self-described medical marijuana patients dressed in
wide-brimmed hats, bib overalls and other gardening garb hefted hoes
and shovels as they prepared for an unauthorized planting in Frank
Ogawa Plaza. An estimated 1 million marijuana seeds weighing a total
of 25 pounds were in two sacks on the ground.

The sacks were decorated in the spirit of their contents, and one bore
the words "Red Hair Sinsemilla ... Superior Quality Seed."

A straw-stuffed scarecrow on a pole bore a picture-face of City
Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who wants to cap the number of
dispensaries at four and ban marijuana from being consumed on the
premises. The proposal set for consideration at Tuesday's city council
meeting would also reduce the number of plants a patient could grow
for personal medicinal use to 18 from the current 72.

"It is absolutely crazy," said Angel McClary Raich, one of the
speakers at the protest event organized by Americans for Safe Access.
"The city is taking a step backwards. I am ashamed the city of Oakland
is taking away our medicine."

The proposed restrictions would force medical marijuana users to use
their doses in the streets instead of in supportive and controlled
settings at dispensaries, those at the subdued, hour-long protest
maintained. Making the prescribed drug harder to get and use could
also cost patients their lives, warned A.S.A. Executive Director Steph
Sherer.

Hillary McQuie led those gathered in a brief petition to Mother Earth
and the sky to nurture the seeds into healthy plants.

"We see this as a safe zone for patients," McQuie said before the
sowingbegan. "They can harvest medicine in Frank Ogawa Plaza and then
go in City Hall and medicate."

As they tossed seeds, planters sang "Inch by inch, row by row, De La
Fuente let us grow." A while later, the chant was given a playful
twist, finishing with "make De La Fuente grow."

The event garnered little attention from passersby. Police officers
working on nearby downtown streets paid no heed to the gathering.
State law makes it illegal to cultivate marijuana, but those with
medical marijuana cards are afforded latitude.

Some protesters wore cannabis leis and others handed out homemade
treats designated only for medical marijuana patients. Members of the
group scooped handfuls of seeds from the sacks and strewed them about
the plaza lawn. Sherer made a special point of piling a mound of seeds
at the base of the De La Fuente effigy. Among those at the protest was
Jeff Jones, director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club, which was
shut down by federal officials.

Sherer said opponents of the medicinal marijuana restrictions will be
out in force at the coming City Council meeting.

"If it doesn't go well, we have a backup plan," Sherer said as those
around her sowed more than seeds of protest. "We harvest."

The seed sacks remained about half-full by the time the activists held
hands in a circle and closed the protest by singing "We shall overcome."

"I hope to come back a couple of weeks from now and see young plants
everywhere," said Aundre Speciale, a 37-year-old mother and Montclair
homeowner who uses marijuana to curb panic attacks. "That would be a
beautiful thing."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake