Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2006 San Jose Mercury News Contact: http://www.mercurynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390 Author: Mary Anne Ostrom, Mercury News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) FISHERMAN'S WHARF SHOPS FUME OVER POT CLUB Millions of people come to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf each year for their fix of crab and sourdough. Now one Generation X businessman wants to open a medicinal marijuana dispensary in the Bay Area's most-visited tourist mecca. Many locals, however, are not too high on the concept. "It's all about fish, not pot," steams Chris Martin, owner of the Cannery, who says the wharf should be about history and for kids. A medical pot shop, he worries, would create "more of a carnival atmosphere and may increase crime." Plans by the Green Cross to sell marijuana to patients with a doctor's permission is pitting the Dungeness vs. the cannabis crowd in a battle as hot as a boiling crab pot. San Francisco's planning commissioners today will take a crucial vote on the proposal. The proprietor of the Green Cross dispensary agrees that the wharf is hardly an ideal location for his customers -- terrible parking for one thing. But, he says, new city rules created zones so confining that about the only places to legally sell marijuana now are around the wharf or in the Financial District. Will it add to the carnival atmosphere at Fisherman's Wharf? Hardly, says Green Cross owner Kevin Reed. "There are 30 different bars and different restaurants within two blocks of here," he said. He pointed out that he must comply with dozens of regulations, including hiring security guards and controlling odor emissions, before he can open on Leavenworth Street just down the block from the Cannery, a century-old building with stores, restaurants and bars. "We are playing by the rules," said Reed, 32, whose earlier marijuana dispensary on the edge of Noe Valley was closed in a compromise with city officials after San Francisco clamped down on pot clubs. Wharf battles are not new. In-N-Out Burger ticked off the fishmongers at its opening. The addition of a Hooters restaurant was a frontal assault to traditionalists. Now, the dispensary debate comes as local crab and salmon fishermen are under siege and cannot afford to berth their picturesque floating crafts. The city is threatening to tear down a century-old pier. And tourism, while rebounding, has not reached pre-Sept. 11 levels, dispensary opponents say. One merchant complained that bringing a pot club to the neighborhood is akin to the headaches of "a big-box retailer or fast-food drive-in." Supporters of the Green Cross laugh. "It's metro-chic," said Kathleen Prevost, a medicinal marijuana user who dropped by Wednesday to check out the proposed new digs. "It's in Amsterdam, in Paris." Reed said he is not targeting tourists. In fact, the only customers who will be allowed through the fortified front door must carry state or city-issued medicinal marijuana cards, which require a doctor's written permission. There will be a one-ounce per customer limit. And no marijuana smoking will be allowed on or near the premises. But perhaps the biggest only-in-San Francisco irony is that the Cannery, the pot club's biggest opponent, has served as the temporary home to a museum that celebrates one of San Francisco's original joint-toting countercultures -- the Beat Generation. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek