REGULATING POT CLUBS

THE RESPONSE of most local governments to the 1996 passage of
Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana in California, has
been to look the other way and hope for the best.

San Francisco is Exhibit A of the dangers of such a laissez-faire
approach. The city is overrun with 43 dispensaries who, to put it
charitably, approach the distribution of pot with varying levels of
responsibility.

San Francisco is finally looking at ways to tighten its oversight of
dispensaries. So is Alameda County, which now has seven.

Alameda County's Board of Supervisors today is expected to consider
regulations that would, among other things, impose a limit of five
dispensaries and ensure that they do not open around schools, allow
on-site consumption or cluster around each other.

The county is looking at an even bolder proposal by Supervisor Nate
Miley to have the county run a medical marijuana dispensary at
Fairmont Hospital. Miley's proposal is worth a try. At this point, the
main obstacle appears to be legal concerns over the conflict with
federal laws against the cultivation, possession or distribution of
marijuana.

Those federal laws need to be changed -- and the best way to bring
that change is to show that medical marijuana programs can be run
safely and responsibly. San Francisco and Alameda County are moving in
the right direction.