August 2, 2002

Leah Garchik

sfgate.com

S.F. FROM AFAR: San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, who was at Rita Moreno's Plush Room opening the other night, described debating medical marijuana policy with Clinton drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Monday's "Donahue" show.

Before the debate, McCaffrey said he'd be "talking with some pothead from California," and after the debate, he described Leno as "an improved version of Tom Cruise" who will "make a good icon to push this cause." Of course, Leno wasn't reluctant to pass along the news that he'd been compared to Cruise. He said, however, that he was mentioning it because McCaffrey's tone of voice was sarcastic, and he took it as an anti-gay crack.