Subject: AIDS Bake Sale Bust!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 10:02:31 -0400

Call the following San Francisco officials and tell them that confiscating
the medicine of people with AIDS who are sick and in pain is a crime! Demand
that all medicinal marijuana baked goods be returned to ACT UP SF or be
immediately distributed free of charge through a City agency to people with
AIDS .

ACT UP! FIGHT AIDS! LEGALIZE POT!

Board of Supervisors: (415) 554-5184
Mayor Willie Brown: (415) 554-6141
District Attorney Terence Hallinan: (415) 553-1752

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 1996

MEDIA CONTACTS
Todd Swindell: (415) 864-8355
Michael De Hart: (415) 522-2907 
 
Bake Sale Bust! Cops Seize Pot Brownies from ACT UP SF Booth
----------
Medicinal marijuana baked goods confiscated from PWAs promoting Proposition
215

San Francisco -- On Sunday, October 6th fifteen officers from the San
Francisco Police Department stormed the annual Castro Street Fair and closed
down the booth of the controversial, direct action AIDS group ACT UP San
Francisco because activists were selling medicinal marijuana baked goods to
people with AIDS (PWAs). ACT UP members, outraged at California Attorney
General Dan Lungren's continued harassment of those with AIDS, stated they
were simply promoting California's Proposition 215, the state ballot measure
that, if passed, would legalize marijuana use as medicine for those with
life-threatening illnesses.

For three hours prior to the bust ACT UP members had been selling pot
brownies, cookies, Rice Krispy squares and other marijuana edibles to people
with HIV and AIDS in full view of several SFPD officers and with the support
of the Castro Street Fair security staff. At approximately 2:30 p.m., a gang
of fifteen officers suddenly descended upon the ACT UP SF booth and
confiscated the hundreds of remaining medicinal baked goods. An angry, vocal
crowd of over 800 fair attendees taunted officers as they seized the
medication. The predominantly gay and lesbian crowd chanted "Shame! Shame!
Shame!" and "Hey Pigs! Hands Off Our Medicine" as officers made off with the
last of the medicinal baked goods. Police representatives stated that the
confiscated items would be tested for "illegal substances" and destroyed if
they were found to contain marijuana. ACT UP members countered that items
baked with marijuana are crucial in relieving nausea and pain and improving
the appetites of people with AIDS and cancer. No arrests were made.

"Sadly today's assault at the hands of the San Francisco Police Department is
nothing new to the Queer community," remarked ACT UP SF protester and person
with AIDS Forest Baker. "The year and a half investigation of the Cannabis
Buyers' Club that culminated in Lungren's recent raid was led by gay SFPD
officer Joe Bannon. It's quite clear that as far as San Francisco is
concerned people with AIDS are not safe from police harassment, even in the
heart of our own community."

On August 4, Lungren, along with Narcotics Bureau Enforcement and SFPD
officers, raided the Cannabis Buyers' Club (CBC); a local sanctuary for AIDS
and cancer patients where they could purchase and consume marijuana to treat
symptoms of pain, nausea and depression. Since that initial bust, Lungren has
also raided buyers' clubs in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. Activists state that
this is yet another link in the chain of persecution that the GOP is
tightening around the necks of the Queer and AIDS communities.

Citing Lungren's continued opposition to needle exchange and domestic
partnership legislation and his support of Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2,
activists say they are determined to halt the GOP's relentless assault on
Proposition 215. Furthermore, ACT UP members say they will challenge City
officials' silence in the face of these attacks.

San Francisco's Mayor and Board of Supervisors have steadfastly refused to
declare a state of emergency to support medicinal use of marijuana by
claiming that such a declaration would threaten existing needle exchange
programs which operate under similar emergency proclamations. Activists
however were quick to note that former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan
declared two such states of emergency supporting medicinal marijuana use
during his term and that these declarations had no negative impact upon the
continuation of needle exchange programs.

In response to the recent bust at the Castro Street Fair, ACT UP San
Francisco demanded:

1) A declaration of a state of emergency from the City of San Francisco
supporting the availability and use of marijuana as medicine for those with
life threatening illnesses.

2) Prompt release of all confiscated medicinal baked goods to ACT UP San
Francisco or to a City agency that will immediately distribute them free of
charge to people with AIDS, cancer or other severe illnesses.

ACT UP San Francisco vowed to continue to raise public awareness of
Proposition 215 through the public distribution of medicinal marijuana and
through demonstrations of radical direct action.

Press photos and video of the "ACT UP SF Bake Sale Bust" are available.
Contact ACT UP SF at 1388 Haight Street, #218, San Francisco, CA 94117.
Phone: (415) 522-2907. Fax: (415) 834-0243. Email: [email-masked].

==========

San Francisco Examiner
October 7, 1996
Page 1

Brownie bust at Castro bake sale
----------
Purportedly pot-laced items seized at street fair

By Jim Herron Zasnora and Ray Delgado
of the Examiner Staff

San Francisco police confiscated brownies and cookies on sale at the Castro
Street Fair that were purported to be laced with marijuana but declined to
make any arrests.

The seizure, which occurred around 2:30 p.m. Sunday in front of several
thousand people, drew an angry crowd that jeered at police. Onlookers
chanted, "Shame! Shame!" as police hauled away several pounds of baked goods
from the table, which was set up to promote the medicinal use of marijuana.

"The baked goods are going to be tested for marijuana," said Lt. Greg Suhr,
who oversaw the bust. "If there is marijuana found in those brownies, well,
marijuana is still illegal until we know otherwise. If they contain marijuana
they will be destroyed."

But Suhr said police had no plans to make any arrests related to the brownie
bust. He said the officers did not want to escalate the situation, and that
their action was taken peacefully to prevent any illegal activity.

"There will be no arrests," Suhr said. "If there is an illegal substance
found we'll destroy it, and if not, we'll be glad to return it."

Tensions have been high between police and some members of the gay community
ever since state agents raided the Market Street offices of the Cannabis
Buyers' Club on August 4. Although San Francisco police played a minor role
in that raid, it was based on an undercover investigation started by the SFPD
narcotics unit in 1994.

Sunday's incident occurred at a table set up by ACT UP San Francisco, in
support of Proposition 215, an initiative on the November ballot that would
legalize medical uses of the drug.

Todd Swindell, of ACT UP, said the intent of selling the goods was to
medically help people with AIDS or other illnesses and to encourage support
for Prop. 215 in the gay and lesbian community.

"It's absolutely outrageous and ridiculous," said Swindell, who was working
at the table when police confiscated the baked goods. "We were reaching out
to the community and doing nothing They stood by the table for a long time
without doing anything.... I was hoping we could work something out."

Suhr and Swindell said the officers did not take any literature related to
marijuana legalization or Prop. 215.

Swindell conceded that not everyone who purchased a brownie or a cookie for
$5 each was screened for a medical need. But he said that people who could
present a valid card from any of the medical marijuana clubs in the state
were given free marijuana-laced cookies with their purchases.

"Our goal was not to raise money but to raise awareness," Swindell said. "Why
the police have enough time to bust a bunch of fags at the Castro Street Fair
is ridiculous when you consider that there are crack dealers and heroin
dealers only a few blocks away. The cops looked really uncomfortable. I don't
see why they were doing this."