So the Feds came in and raided one of the city's best pot clubs last week, demonstrating pretty clearly what I think is going to be the political theme for 2006: We're finally on our own.

The federal government isn't going to help San Francisco house the homeless, or stop the homicides, or treat poor people who get sick. Washington has abandoned American cities.

On the flip side, the feds aren't going to respect our local and state laws. California voters legalized medical marijuana, and San Francisco has carefully regulated pot clubs. The Drug Enforcement Administration doesn't care. (The DEA doesn't care much about protecting the rights of the accused, either: As Ann Harrison reports on page TK, the agents who broke down the door at the HopeNet dispensary didn't bother to secure the place after they left, so thieves came in and stole the computers, the stereo, and some Christmas presents for kids who had been orphaned by AIDS.)

The scene was a demonstration of how official and activist San Francisco can respond to this sort of thing: Sups. Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi showed up at the club the minute they heard a raid was going down, and a crowd quickly gathered outside to protest. State assemblymember Mark Leno immediately released a strong statement condemning the raid.

The message: If the feds are going to try to stop San Francisco from allowing the sale of medical pot, they're going to have an ugly fight on their hands. That's exactly what the city needs to say – and this was just the start.

Mayor Gavin Newsom should have been there along with Mirkarimi and Daly. He should have been on the phone to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to complain and to demand they contact the DEA and raise hell. Police Chief Heather Fong and District Attorney Kamala Harris should have made an appearance and publicly warned the DEA that the SFPD and DA will not in any way cooperate with this sort of nonsense.

This year San Francisco will have to raise its own taxes to fund its own social safety net. It will have to defy the federal government to support medical marijuana. We're going to have to start thinking like an old-fashioned sovereign city-state, because these days, that's our only option.

Tim Redmond

tredmond@sfbg.com