REEFER PROGRESS

Meeting On S.F. Pot Farming As Congress Considers States'rights Bill.

A collection of politicians, doctors and activists as well as growers,
patients and friends of patients gathered Tuesday to discuss Proposition S,
an attempt to strengthen San Francisco's support of medicinal marijuana
against federal intervention.

The public meeting at the First Unitarian Church on Franklin Street,
sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance among others, featured talks by
experts concerning the logistical and legal issues in Proposition S, two
workshops, an open-mike question-and-answer session, and a forum featuring
a stream of current and hopeful politicians.

The talk happened on the same day as the introduction of an amendment to a
House appropriations bill in Washington on preventing the federal Drug
Enforcement Agency from interfering with state medical marijuana laws.

The issue of medical marijuana has become a hot topic recently as George W.
Bush's administration has targeted California's and specifically San
Francisco's liberal marijuana laws. The DEA and federal prosecutors have
put pressure on weed growers, distributors, activists and doctors who
prescribe the drug.

A map displayed during the conference showed the high number of pot clubs
around San Francisco.

"If I look at a map and I'm opposed to medicinal marijuana, I see a
bull's-eye right here," said Dale Gieringer, state coordinator of the
California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, pointing
to the Bay Area.

San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. S last November in
response to the federal pressure. Prop. S dictates that San Francisco
policymakers explore the possibility of The City procuring control of the
growth and distribution of marijuana, taking the heat off individuals.

The conference tried to focus on the problems of logistics, physician
willingness to prescribe, and separating the needy patients from the rest
of the pot culture, according to Steve Heilig from the San Francisco
Medical Society.

Eddy Lepp, owner of Eddy's Medicinal Garden, a ganja-growing cooperative in
Lake County that harvests several thousand pounds of marijuana a year, said
the feds really don't have any control over state drug enforcement.

"Why would I be leaving and going out to my truck to smoke a joint right
now, if the federal government had any authority over it?" said Lepp, who
survived two drug raids and currently has a $36 million lawsuit pending
after a raid in August 2002, as he left the conference.

A stream of city politicians spoke supporting Prop. S, including mayoral
and district attorney candidates, with current DA Terence Hallinan getting
a standing ovation.

Mayoral candidate Angela Alioto received one of the warmest reactions to
her impassioned speech that touched on her husband, who died of stomach
cancer and could not receive medicinal marijuana to help his suffering.

"What a great city we live in where all three candidates for DA support the
use of medical marijuana," joked candidate Bill Fazio.

Note: Meeting on S.F. pot farming as Congress considers states'rights bill.