MEDICAL-POT LAW AILING?

EVEN the medical-marijuana diehards have to wonder. Are all of the
dozens of cannabis outlets in San Francisco really in business to
comfort the sick?

The raids on three storefront operations and indictments of 20
suspects this week came with a surprisingly soft reaction in this
city. The mayor ducked a chance to denounce the federal raiders, and
several supervisors acknowledged the city's policies are a shambles.
It looks as if San Francisco's tolerance and openness is being abused
- -- and no one likes it. A crackdown, limited to the most flagrant
operators, may not be so bad.

Of course, federal prosecutors must make a case that targeted pot
dispensaries were fronts for warehouse-scale sales and money
laundering. They need to back up their talk about organized crime
with convictions.

But since the medical-marijuana cause was approved by state voters in
1996, the chances for abusing this well-intentioned idea have grown.
San Francisco police have knocked over a dozen indoor-weed farms in
the last two years. This year, the number of pot clubs rose to 44
before reportedly dropping back to 30, an astonishingly high figure
and way beyond any other California city.

The latest raids should kick City Hall into gear. If city leaders
want any support for the humane use of marijuana, then there must be
a tough-minded set of rules for selling and dispensing.

Plenty of good ideas are on the table: a flat, single-digit limit on
the number of outlets; background checks on operators; more scrutiny
of pot-seeking patients; and zoning restrictions that keep the
businesses away from schools.

It's time to get moving on such plans. Otherwise, the city risks
losing what little credibility and control it has.