Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jan 2006
Source: Daily Review, The (Hayward, CA)
Copyright: 2006sANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.dailyreviewonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1410
Author: Josh Richman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project www.mpp.org

GROUP GIVES OUT FREE MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN S.F.

Dispensary Protests Raid With Giveaway At Civic Center

In a show of defiance against federal drug authorities, operators of 
a recently raided medical marijuana collective doled out marijuana 
and cannabis-laced sweets at midday Wednesday outside City Hall.

Steve and Cathy Smith stood beneath a pair of white tarps pitched in 
City Center Plaza as dozens of patients lined up to receive the small 
red paper bags filled with cannabis products. Only 20 patients of the 
Smiths' HopeNet collective had preregistered, and only they received the bags.

Earlier, local officials and state lawmakers' aides had gathered 
inside City Hall to voice outrage over the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's Dec. 20 raid of the Smiths' San Francisco home, the 
nearby HopeNet club and a Sonoma County site.

Federal agents seized almost 340 marijuana plants, various cannabis 
products and about $50,000 cash, but no charges have been filed 
against the Smiths or anyone else connected to HopeNet.

San Francisco Supervisors Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi praised the 
Smiths for working with the city to create a safe, well-regulated 
cannabis collective aiding hundreds of patients, including many who 
are indigent. An aide said Mayor Gavin Newsom is disappointed the 
federal government continues to intrude on local and state regulation 
of medical marijuana.

Anna Damiani, an aide to Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, read 
a statement from the lawmaker in which he decried the DEA's "zeal to 
harass patients and providers" as being "abusive and unconscionable" 
as well as a waste of resources that would be better deployed against 
real public-safety threats.

Similar statements from state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, 
and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris also were read aloud.

Steph Sherer, executive director of Oakland-based Americans for Safe 
Access, said DEA officials -- after last June's U.S. Supreme Court 
decision upholding the federal marijuana ban -- had claimed the 
agency would not make a priority of targeting patients.

"We're here to let America know they're lying," she said, announcing 
a postcard-petition drive urging U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan not to file 
charges against the Smiths.

The Smiths thanked local officials and the community for what they 
described as an outpouring of support since the federal raid. Cathy 
Smith said other Bay Area providers have helped replenish some of 
HopeNet's cannabis supply.

"Basically, we're going to have to start all over again," she said. 
"They're going to have to put us behind bars to make us stop."

Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based 
Marijuana Policy Project, said federal raids like that of HopeNet 
should be seen as "the behavior of a caged, cornered animal lashing 
out because it knows it's on the losing end of history."

He cited polls showing strong public support for medical use of 
marijuana, and said federal refusal to reclassify the drug has no 
basis in science or common sense.

"The debate is over," he said. "It's not a question of if; it's a 
question of when."

Rhode Island last week became the 11th state to legalize medical 
marijuana, and the first state to enact such a law since last June's 
Supreme Court ruling.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman