San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. leads way on patient-friendly pot clubs

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S.F. leads way on patient-friendly pot clubs
C.W. Nevius, Chronicle Columnist

Tuesday, October 14, 2008




19:34 PDT -- Three years ago, agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency broke down the door of a South of Market medical pot club and raided the premises. It looked like the first skirmish between federal agents and the city, which passed liberal pot laws in 1996.

Instead, the city took the crackdown as a wake-up call.

Quietly, with little fanfare, San Francisco is on the way to becoming a model for medical marijuana clubs done the right way. Exploitive, profit-hungry drug clubs are being forced out and community-based, patient-friendly ones are becoming the norm. Neighbors have shut down dispensaries in school zones, and patient services have been increased.

Beginning in 2005, when Mayor Gavin Newsom worried aloud about "a path that would allow for a club on every street corner," the city has made a series of small steps that have improved a situation that was nearly out of control. A moratorium on new clubs was enacted, and Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Michela Alioto-Pier pushed for restrictive legislation. Among other things, all pot clubs were required to get an operating permit from the Planning Commission. Neighborhood input, proximity to schools, and criminal and employment background checks were all included in the consideration for a permit.

Since then, almost half of the clubs have closed.

And here's an indication of just how well the regulations have worked. When state Attorney General Jerry Brown proposed strict state guidelines for marijuana dispensaries in August, and Newsom's office drafted similar regulations a month later, advocates responded immediately - they said they were wholeheartedly in favor.

"We went through 10 years of an unregulated cannabis environment," said Kevin Reed, president of Green Cross dispensary, which delivers medical marijuana to patients. "Now they are going to try something completely different, and to see it run correctly is a wonderful thing."

Nothing speaks to the spirit of cooperation like the recent fuss kicked up about a proposal by Newsom to require clubs to record the names and addresses of patients. That requirement is stricter than Brown's proposal that the clubs keep some sort of general "membership records. "

Pot advocates are concerned about patients' confidentiality rights and fear it may be a step toward bringing criminal charges against pot users. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/13/BAS313G9VL.DTL