Pubdate: Sun, 20 Mar 2005
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Column: Matier and Ross
Page: A - 19
Contact:  2005 Hearst Communications Inc.
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/San+Francisco

POT CLINICS JUST KEEP GROWING

Third Dispensary Planned for Same Street in S.F.'S Ingleside District

In San Francisco, the legalized dope business is booming all over
town.

Among the latest crop of "medical marijuana" dispensaries popping
up:

The Happy Days Herbal Relief Center -- which is run by a former crack
addict and ex-con.

The Holistic Center, which is set to have its grand opening this week
on the ground floor of a city-backed welfare hotel that houses a
number of recovering drug addicts.

And a new pot club planned for 1945 Ocean Ave. out in the working-
class Ingleside -- just across the street from a competing dope dispensary.

It's the third pot club on the street -- all within four blocks of
each other.

And many of the neighbors aren't happy.

"There are 44 McDonald's in all of Manhattan -- more than any location
in the world -- and we have 37 marijuana dispensaries in San
Francisco," fumes Dogpatch Neighborhood Association President Susan
Eslick, who just learned of plans for a new dope dealership down the
street from her, at the corner of Third and 20th streets.

"If these are for health," Eslick added, "then we must have a huge
epidemic."

 From what we're told, much of the surge can be traced to Oakland's
decision to put a moratorium on clubs.

"They're all here because Jerry Brown threw them out of Oakland,"
police Capt. Tim Hettrich says bluntly.

Indeed, when the Oakland City Council capped the number of clubs last
year at four -- putting most of the city's dozen or so unregulated pot
joints out of business -- the activity surged on the west side of the
bay. Not only has there been a doubling of new clubs in the past 18
months, police say, but the number of "patients" requesting medical
marijuana ID cards has nearly tripled, to 7,000.

The San Francisco boom has its roots in state voters' 1996 passage of
Proposition 215, legalizing marijuana use for medical reasons.

With that, a whole new cottage industry was born, even though weed,
medicinal or otherwise, is still illegal under federal law. Today
there are 126 clubs and support groups throughout the state, serving
an estimated 100, 000 medical marijuana users.

And with no legal source for marijuana, some clubs are charging the
street rate, which is anywhere from $300 to $500 an ounce.

It's become an entrepreneur's dream.

One such dreamer is 40-year-old Jeff Hunter, a former crack addict who
spent seven years in San Quentin State Prison for cocaine trafficking.
He got out in 1999, and now operates the Happy Days Herbal Relief Center.

Hunter -- who is still on probation -- said the new marijuana
enterprise "has turned my life around."

"I was having a midlife crisis and was looking for other ways to make
money legally," Hunter said.

"I make a pretty good income, I'd have to say," Hunter said, though
he declined to specify just how much. Whatever the amount, it's
probably more than he made in his last job, driving a bread truck.

On the afternoon we visited Happy Days at 607 Divisadero St., business
was brisk -- with a stream of young and streetwise-looking customers
showing up to buy or sample the goods.

On the wall hung a large menu, featuring "G. Purple" for $20 a gram
and hash for $35 a gram -- along with an assortment of medicine-laced
goodies, including giant brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

While it might look like a party scene, Hunter insists that "100
percent" of his clients are legitimate medical marijuana users.

We should also point out that Hunter has some friends in high
places.

He's currently part of a discrimination suit against his former bread-
driving boss, Sara Lee Corp., and is being represented by none other
than San Francisco Police Commissioner Joe Veronese and Veronese's
mom, ex-Supervisor Angela Alioto.

And while Hunter insists he's been welcomed into his new neighborhood,
not all owners are getting the same reception.

Officials are already taking a close look at the new Holistic Center
going into the Mission District's All-Star Hotel, mostly out of
concern for those neighbors upstairs who are trying to break their
addictions. The hotel is among a dozen that serve welfare tenants
under Mayor Gavin Newsom's Care Not Cash program.

Meanwhile, folks out in the Ingleside have circulated a letter,
addressed to Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Gerardo Sandoval,
protesting the proposed opening of the latest club in their district.

The problem for neighbors is that the Ocean Avenue clubs are all
within a mile of eight schools -- including City College, two high
schools and a middle school.

Police confirm the clubs are a real magnet for kids -- especially with
all the bus service along Ocean Avenue.

According to Hettrich, it's not uncommon for one kid with a card to
purchase an ounce or so of weed -- then turn around and sell enough of
it to his friends to support his own habit.

After all, says Hettrich: "This is the city that knows how."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake