POLITICAL FIGHT LOOMS OVER POT CLUBS

Discord Among Supes Over How Far City Should Go in Limiting
Dispensaries

A San Francisco supervisor said Wednesday he wanted a sharp cut in the
number of pot clubs operating in the city -- signaling a deep
political divide as City Hall prepares to take up new legislation to
regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who earlier this month called on the city
attorney to enforce a moratorium on new pot clubs, suggested there
should be no more than eight such establishments operating in San
Francisco, far below the 40 or so clubs open now.

"I do think it should be capped," Elsbernd said Wednesday. "Oakland
has four. We have twice the population, so we should have twice the
number of pot clubs. I'm certainly willing to consider what the right
number is. But right now we have almost as many pot clubs in this town
as we do Starbucks. We have more pot clubs than the number of
McDonald's and Burger Kings combined. I think we need to be realistic."

The Board of Supervisors will consider in the coming weeks legislation
proposed by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Gerardo Sandoval that would
require background checks, licensing, permit fees and restrictions on
when, where and how medical marijuana can be dispersed in the city --
but without calling for a limit on the number of outlets.

Currently, there are more than 40 pot clubs that have cropped up in
San Francisco since passage of a 1996 state measure permitting
marijuana use for medical purposes -- with 7,000 registered medical
marijuana patients in the city. But police say the system is widely
abused, with drug dealers and gang members buying at the clubs and
putting more pot on the streets than ever before.

Elsbernd's comments suggest that -- despite Mayor Gavin Newsom and all
11 members of the Board of Supervisors professing support for medical
marijuana -- a political fight is looming over how far the city should
go in limiting pot clubs.

Pointing up just how controversial the issue has become, a San
Francisco resident who says she's a medical marijuana backer Tuesday
obtained a temporary restraining order from a San Francisco Superior
Court judge forcing the closure of a pot club on Howard Street that
neighbors considered to be a nuisance. Last week, federal authorities
raided three clubs accused of participating in a money laundering scheme.

Under the 60 pages of regulation proposed by Mirkarimi on Tuesday,
clubs owners would be required to pay a nonrefundable license
application fee of $7, 396 to the Health Department. The fee is based
on the cost to the city of processing applications.

The San Francisco Police Department, Fire Department and Department of
Building Inspection would be required to perform background checks on
any club owner.

Mirkarimi's legislation also would require a pot club to operate as a
cooperative without generating "excessive profits." The club could
dispense only California-grown product, of which no more than a pound
would be allowed per patient or caregiver unless otherwise specified
by a doctor.

"This is an organic approach to serve as a model to other cities in
the U. S.," Mirkarimi said of his proposed ordinance. "It's
comprehensive, and it is very sensitive to the needs of the
neighborhoods." The supervisor said pot club owners would be required
under his proposal to sign a document attesting that the club would
not be operated for profit.

Mirkarimi said his legislation would cut down on the number of owners
who "may not be in this for the right reasons" while ultimately
establishing a network of law-abiding clubs to adequately serve the
needs of San Francisco patients.

Caren Woodson, campaign director for the medical marijuana group
Americans for Safe Access, said she was pleased with most of the
provisions of Mirkarimi's legislation. But a requirement that clubs
where marijuana is smoked be located no less than 1,000 feet from a
school or neighborhood center has prompted concern about limiting
access for patients.

"We think a 500-foot restriction in San Francisco, given the urban
environment, is plenty," Woodson said. "The thousand-foot restriction
would put these clubs into locations that are not accessible to
indigent or immobile patients."

Asked about any plan to cap the number of clubs, Woodson said,
"Certainly there are more patients now than there were two years ago.
We think the market will correct itself," providing the right number
of clubs to serve all those who need medical marijuana in the city.

Under Mirkarimi's proposed legislation, existing clubs could apply for
a permit from the Health Department only if they can prove they were
open before the April moratorium. Clubs also would need to obtain an
annual business license at a cost of $2,182 and could not operate in
any residential areas.

Sandoval, who represents the Ingleside District, home to two of the
pot clubs raided by federal authorities in connection with suspected
money laundering activity, introduced an ordinance Tuesday that would
require a conditional-use permit from the city Planning Commission
explicitly authorizing the operation of a medical marijuana club.
Conditional-use permits typically restrict the location and business
hours of operation of commercial enterprises.

And unlike Mirkarimi's legislation, Sandoval's would prohibit clubs
from operating within 1,000 feet of each other.

Meanwhile, neighborhood skirmishes over the cannabis dispensaries
continue. On Tuesday, San Francisco Judge Ronald Quidachay issued a
temporary restraining order against a pot club at 935 Howard St. and
cited the club's lack of an operating permit.

"I really didn't want to go to court to get them to stop," said
plaintiff Laura Weil in a statement released by her attorney. "I
support the legal and proper use of medicinal marijuana because I
believe it helps certain patients, but the city needs to enforce the
permit process. The proprietors did not adequately research their
location, and moved into a residential neighborhood with a high
density of children.

"This showed poor judgment -- and had they gone through the
conditional-use process, they likely would have been denied. They
also moved into a neighborhood already saturated with dispensaries,
with eight in a six-block radius from 935 Howard." Regulating
marijuana clubs

Provisions of new legislation proposed for regulating pot clubs in
San Francisco:

. As proposed by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, clubs would need to obtain
a permit from the Health Department, could not operate within 1,000
feet of a school if marijuana is smoked on the premises, and would be
subject to inspections by city officials twice a year. Repeated
violations of the ordinance could draw a fine as high as $5,000 or
lead to the revocation of an operating permit.

. As introduced by Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, clubs would need to
acquire a permit from the Planning Department and could not operate
within 1,000 feet of another marijuana dispensary.