NEWSOM DECLARES MORATORIUM ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUBS

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called for a moratorium Monday on
opening medical marijuana clubs in the city after learning that one
plans to open on the ground floor of a city-funded welfare hotel.

Responding to Newsom's request, the Board of Supervisors is expected
today to introduce an emergency ordinance instituting a 45-day halt on
new cannabis clubs while the city investigates ways to regulate them.
Passage will require a yes vote from nine of the 11 supervisors at
next week's meeting.

"We have frankly ... been lax on this," Newsom said. "I will take
personal criticism to the extent that I am the mayor of San Francisco,
that I have not been diligent, and nor has the elected family been
diligent, in the oversight.

"I believe in the core of my cores that medicinal marijuana is
appropriate and right," Newsom said. "That being said, I also think
there needs to be some common sense and grounding as it relates to the
proliferation of these clubs in San Francisco."

Since state voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, legalizing the use
of medicinal marijuana with a physician's recommendation, San
Francisco has become home to at least 37 of the state's 125-plus
dispensaries, Newsom said. However, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly
how many such clinics operate in the city, he said, because they are
not regulated.

In San Francisco, the cannabis clubs don't need to get licenses or
planning permits, and there are no restrictions on prices or client
age.

"We're on a path -- this is hyperbole -- but we are conceivably
walking down a path that would allow for a club on every street corner
in San Francisco," Newsom said.

The medical marijuana club that grabbed Newsom's attention was the
Holistic Center, which plans to open Friday on the ground floor of the
All- Star Hotel on 16th Street in the Mission District. The hotel is
among a dozen that serve welfare tenants under the city's Care Not
Cash program and is home to some recovering drug addicts and substance
abusers.

"That obviously raised some concern, not just from the community, not
just from our Departments of Human Services, but from the residents
within the building themselves, who appropriately said, 'Hey, I'm just
trying to get away from drugs and alcohol, and here you have a pot
club downstairs,' " Newsom said. "It was at that moment that our
office started looking at a way we could amend all of our contracts
with the Department of Human Services to restrict the .. use of
medicinal marijuana clubs in (Care Not Cash) facilities."

He pointed to other California municipalities that have regulated the
clinics, including Oakland, which recently capped the number of
medical marijuana clinics at four.

"What may be appropriate for Oakland may not be appropriate for San
Francisco, but clearly there's some precedent," Newsom said.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi already had been working on the issue,
requesting the city attorney to draft an ordinance calling for a
45-day moratorium while the supervisors could consider legislation
regulating the clubs on several fronts, from taxing and planning
issues to police and health concerns.

Now, Mirkarimi and Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier plan to join in
calling for an emergency ordinance for a moratorium that could be
passed as early as next week. Alioto-Pier said she had been conducting
community meetings on the issue since last fall, when a medical
marijuana club opened on Vallejo Street near a school.

"Neighbors didn't understand that of all places, why were we opening
up a pot club in a residential area with children?" she said. "We got
them to close, but it brought up a bigger question. It's an important
issue because we have to make sure we're protecting our children."

Board President Aaron Peskin said that he would support the
moratorium.

"It seems reasonable," he said. "Right now, it is the only manner of
land use that's not regulated. It's not a matter of, are you for or
against them. They should be subject to the same rules we use for
everything from restaurants to adult theaters."

Even some of the strongest supporters of making medical marijuana
available are backing Newsom and the supervisors in calling for a moratorium.

"This is long overdue that guidelines be set up," said Wayne Justmann,
who has been instrumental in implementing Proposition 215 in San Francisco.

Likewise, Jeffrey Hunter, who runs Happy Days Herbal Relief Center in
the 600 block of Divisadero, said that regulations "definitely need to
be looked at."

Hunter has two concerns: the quality of experience for clinic users --
and his own profit margin.

With Oakland weeding out the number of clubs in the East Bay, some
have crossed the bridge, including a clinic that set up shop around
the corner from Happy Days.

"That's like having two of the same shoe stores in one block," Hunter
said. "At least give it some distance."

He also was disturbed by the idea of a marijuana dispensary moving
into the All-Star Hotel.

"That's ridiculous," he said. "Where's the loving concern in that?
There's no concern, no compassion. It's about the dollar."

The Tenderloin Housing Clinic leases the All-Star Hotel to provide
supportive services to poor tenants.

Randy Shaw, the group's director, said that according to the Holistic
Center's lease, no smoking would be allowed on the premises.

"It's not going to interfere with our use," he said.

However, Shaw said that in future leases, the Tenderloin Housing
Clinic would include a provision requiring that some other kind of
commercial use be found for any retail space.

"This won't happen again," he said.