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President Obama Visits San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Several hundred demonstrators tried to give President Barack Obama a rowdy, San Francisco-style greeting but were corralled far away behind police barricades when his motorcade arrived at a downtown hotel for a fundraising stop.

The placard-waving crowd distributed across four blocks appeared to be about equally divided between opponents of a proposed transnational oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, and medical marijuana advocates upset over a recent federal crackdown on California dispensaries.

The president was in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon to address donors at a $7,500-a-plate luncheon at the W Hotel.

Across the street, dozens of people openly passed joints while chanting "Our medicine, our state" and "DEA, go away!"

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors warned several hundred landlords they could face charges if they don't evict pot club tenants.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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