Medical cannabis patient and provider Stephanie Landa turned herself in to federal authorities on Thursday, January 4th, 2007. HempEvolution.org, Axis of Love, and Patient Advocacy Network sponsored a rally and protest that morning at 450 Golden Gate Ave in San Francisco, before Ms. Landa "surrendered" herself. They asked that people bring flowers, cards, etc. to show their appreciation for Ms. Landa's work in the fight for safe access. Supporters also asked that people fax Judge Alsup and the US Attorney's Office in San Francisco to demand that Landa's sentence be vacated. Report from Americans for Safe Access Stephanie would like to receive cards and letters of support.

In February of 2002, Stephanie Landa, Kevin Gage, and Thomas Kikuchi attended a Medical Marijuana Task Force meeting with the SFPD that included narcotics officer Sgt. Marty Halloran and Capt. Kevin Cashman, then head of the SFPD narcotics unit. They were advised that the Board of Supervisors had designated San Francisco as a medical marijuana sanctuary, and that police wouldn't cooperate with federal law enforcement. Landa was told that as long as they used licensed electricians, kept their medical marijuana garden within city limits, and sold only to medical marijuana dispensaries, they would have no trouble. She said Cashman presented them with a handout noting that there was no medical marijuana plant limit in San Francisco.

After more assurances from then-district attorney Terence Hallinan, Landa and her partners borrowed $250,000, moved from Los Angeles, secured a business license, and began creating a nonprofit medical cannabis collective. In April 2002 they rented a warehouse for an indoor garden, and began growing 40 strains of cannabis to treat different conditions. "We wanted to be near them so they could protect us as promised," Landa told us. Four months later, a group of plainclothes San Francisco police officers burst into the warehouse, threw Landa and Gage to the ground, and pointed guns at their heads.

Federal prosecutor George Bevan threatened to put Landa in prison for life because of a prior heroin-smuggling charge. In a plea agreement, Landa said she and her partners weren't allowed to mention the roles of Halloran and Cashman, the officers involved in the case, and were forced to sign away their right to an appeal. They were sentenced last summer to 37 to 41 months in federal prison. Gage and Kikichi are now eight months into their terms at a federal prison camp in Sheridan, Ore. Landa, was given a delayed sentence because she and Kikichi have a child. Read more

1/4 Press conference video on YouTube | YouTube video: SF Police Commissioner Speaks | Patient Advocacy Network | Stephanie Landa: Medical Marijuana Political Prisoner | Hemp Evolution