Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2005
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Francisco Examiner
Contact:  http://www.examiner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/389
Author: J. K. Dineen, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

City-Run Hotel's Newest Tenant Troubles Residents

POT CLUB'S PRESENCE SEEN AS HARMFUL TO FORMER ADDICTS

As a shining light of The City's new Care Not Cash program, the
All-Star Hotel has become a welcome home for dozens of hardened
transients escaping drug-infested shelters and street corners.

So it was a shock this week when residents of the Mission District
facility, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, learned exactly
what kind of "health clinic" would be opening in a retail space
downstairs - a medical marijuana clinic.

Resident manager Robert Williams said he only learned of the pot
dispensary Friday when he smelled the telltale odor drifting up into
his office.

"The smell was overwhelming. We had no idea what was going on down
there," he said. "Some of the residents here are dealing with
addiction and that [smell] is one of the things that can trigger relapse."

As part of the solution to hardcore homelessness, The City rents the
84-unit All-Star Hotel from owner Neal Patel and subleases it to the
Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which has a long record of turning
flophouses into managed hotels with supportive services. Under Care
Not Cash, The City has taken over 12 hotels with 800 rooms.

Neighbor Angela Sinicropi, who lives next to the All-Star, said she
was "appalled" when she learned a pot club would be opening and that
medical marijuana businesses, which are unregulated by The City, do
not require any special licenses or notification process.

Sinicropi said Patel misled her about the use, saying the newest
tenant in the building would be "a medical clinic associated with UCSF."

Patel said he didn't mislead anyone.

"I told [the neighbors] it is going to be a medical facility, and it
is," he said.

The marijuana club, set to open March 25, will be called The Holistic
Center, according to owner Craig Walker. Walker, a carpenter who holds
a medical marijuana card to treat back pain, said the block was "full
of hookers and graffiti" and the club would help clean it up.

He said only people with city-issued medical marijuana cards would be
eligible to buy pot.

"We don't encourage drug addiction," he said.

Walker said he picked the block partly because few children live on it
and that "nine out of 10 people around here say 'right on' when we
tell them what we're doing."

But Micheal Piatakov, one of 60 residents who moved from the streets
to the hotel seven months ago, called the dispensary "a bad idea."

"Here I am trying to get back up on my feet," said Piatakov, who is
trying to get work as a truck driver. "I don't want to be exposed to
that."

Tenderloin Housing Clinic director Randy Shaw said was "looking into"
the matter.

"We can't have a use that interferes with the residential use," said
Shaw. "We don't want smoke wafting up."

Patel said he would talk to the club owners about implementing a
no-smoking rule at the club.

Department of Human Services Director Trent Rhorer said he "shared the
concerns about that sort of operation" and would look into the situation.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake