Pubdate: Wed, 30 Mar 2005
Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Francisco Bay Guardian
Contact:  http://www.sfbg.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/387
Author: Ann Harrison
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

GREEN RUSH

S.F. CRACKS DOWN ON THE PROLIFERATION OF MARIJUANA CLUBS

A boom in San Francisco marijuana dispensaries has triggered a round
of high-profile recriminations that has split city hall and roiled the
medical cannabis community.

Sup. Ross Mirkarimi was already quietly working with dispensary owners
to develop regulations when Mayor Gavin Newsom seized the media
spotlight with reactionary concerns that sent all sides jockeying for
position before the hammer comes down.

The Board of Supervisors was set to approve a 45-day moratorium on new
clubs March 29 (after the Bay Guardian's press time). The night
before, a police community relations forum in the South of Market
district attracted almost 100 people who heard complaints from
neighbors about the Mendohealing Clinic dispensary on Lafayette
Street. San Francisco police captain Tim Hettrich, who heads the
narcotics unit, told the crowd that medical cannabis use was a "great
lie" because people with minor afflictions were allegedly able to
secure doctors' recommendations for marijuana.

Newsom kicked off the current cannabis debate after he learned that
the Holistic Center dispensary was planning to open in the All-Star
Hotel in the Mission District, which houses some of the formerly
homeless recovering addicts participating in the mayor's signature
Care Not Cash program.

The mayor told reporters he supports medical cannabis but called for
restrictions on new cannabis clubs, which now require only a business
license and the approval of the property owner. At last count, there
were almost 40 dispensaries operating in San Francisco, with new clubs
opening almost every week. Oakland's four-dispensary limit, and club
regulations passed by other cities, has kicked off a gold rush among
cannabis entrepreneurs who have flooded San Francisco's unregulated
market.

Supervisors have been fielding complaints from neighborhood groups
concerned about other dispensaries on Vallejo Street and Ocean Avenue.
Sups. Mirkarimi, Michela Alioto-Pier, Aaron Peskin, Sophie Maxwell,
Jake McGoldrick, Sean Elsbernd, Tom Ammiano, Fiona Ma, and Bevan Dufty
have all voiced support for the moratorium.

Meanwhile, the regulations Mirkarimi has been developing are scheduled
for an April 25 hearing before the board's Government Audit and
Oversight Committee. But he worries that inflammatory statements by
the Mayor's Office against dispensaries will help push through hastily
drafted regulations that could compromise access to medical cannabis.

"They are trying to make laws in the press, whereas we want to make
laws through the committee process and give people a chance to weigh
in on this," Mirkarimi told us. "It could be a photo finish in the
race for developing regulations."

The group of nine medical cannabis dispensaries working with Mirkarimi
put forward its own proposed set of regulations, drafted by Martin
Olive and Nicole Strand, directors of the Vapor Room dispensary on
Haight Street. The dispensary group is chaired by Wayne Justmann, who
supports the moratorium. Justmann said the new dispensaries are often
run by unscrupulous operators more interested in generating profits
than in providing services to patients.

"People are coming in from outside San Francisco and just opening up
shop without consulting their neighborhoods or community
representatives, and I think greed motivates these individuals,"
Justmann told us. "Unorganized crime has moved into the dispensary
business, and we need to clean the wheat from the chaff."

Justmann hopes the dispensary group's alliance with Mirkarimi will
spare those club operators if the city moves to limit dispensaries.
But other dispensary operators charge that the group has excluded them
from discussions and is simply trying to protect its share of the market.

"We've been here for seven years, and we didn't know anything about
these meetings," said Mike Jones, who helps run the Act Up Collective
dispensary on Market Street. "We should have some say or at least some
information about what is going on."

Some medical cannabis patients said they are also worried about being
left out of the regulatory process. Several dozen patients held an
emergency meeting March 24 organized by the San Francisco branch of
Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for medical cannabis
patients. ASA volunteer coordinator Alex Franco said the source of the
regulation is less important than ensuring continued access to medical
cannabis in San Francisco for every patient who needs it.

"My concern is that infighting in both city government and within the
medical cannabis community will result in chaos," Franco said. "If
this is not put in check, those who are most affected, the patients
and caregivers, will suffer." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake