S.F. Considers Growing Its Own

BALLOT MEASURE WILL ASK CITY TO CULTIVATE POT FOR MEDICINAL USE

San Francisco -- San Francisco could become the first city in the nation to
get into the pot-growing business to supply patients with medicinal
marijuana, under a measure headed for the November ballot.

The measure would urge city officials to explore growing cannabis and
distributing it to seriously ill patients who have an OK from their doctors
- -- in apparent defiance of federal law. Supervisor Mark Leno drafted the
measure out of frustration with the Drug Enforcement Administration's
determination to close down clubs that distribute medical marijuana in
California. He said state voters made it clear when they approved
Proposition 215 in 1996 that they support medicinal marijuana.

"If the federal government insists on standing in our way locally, we must
take matters into our own hands and protect the lives of our community
members and protect their right to access life-saving medicine," said Leno,
Democratic nominee for the state Assembly seat representing the eastern
half of San Francisco.

He and Supervisors Sophie Maxwell, Tom Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez joined
forces Monday to place the proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Leno envisions growing cannabis on vacant city property and says the
program could double as agriculture job training for the city's unemployed.
He mentioned the grounds of Laguna Honda Hospital -- the city's long-term
care hospital -- as a possible location.

"We have a lot of land. That's not going to be a problem," Leno said.

What could be a problem is Uncle Sam. Federal authorities insist San
Francisco would have no right to get into the business of farming pot.

"Cultivation, possession and distribution of marijuana is illegal under the
Controlled Substances Act -- federal law," said Richard Meyer, spokesman
for the DEA's regional office in San Francisco.

"Unless Congress changes the law and makes marijuana a legal substance,
then we have to do our job and enforce the law, whether or not it's
popular," Meyer said.

But San Francisco has a history of creativity when it comes to bucking the
law. For instance, the city found a way to thwart the state prohibition on
needle exchange programs for drug addicts by declaring a public health
emergency. That has allowed the distribution of clean needles, which slows
the spread of AIDS, hepatitis and other communicable diseases.

The state isn't likely to intervene if the city grows pot. Attorney General
Bill Lockyer has supported Proposition 215 and has left its implementation
to the discretion of cities and counties.

He doesn't have a position yet on the San Francisco proposal, said Lockyer
spokeswoman Hallye Jordan. But, she added, "It's pretty much a local
jurisdictional issue."

San Francisco's ballot measure would not implement a pot-growing program --
it would merely ask city officials to look into it. To move forward, the
Board of Supervisors and mayor would have to enact legislation that
probably would detail where and how the pot would be grown, who it would be
supplied to, and under what circumstances. Officials also would have to
discuss how to wage the expected legal battle against the feds.

Last year San Francisco declared itself a sanctuary for the use,
cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana, a symbolic measure that
told the federal drug cops to lay off local pot clubs and their clients.

Over the past two years, the San Francisco Health Department has issued
about 3,700 identification cards for patients who have a medical need for
marijuana and for their caregivers.

Leno said the idea that San Francisco grow and distribute medical marijuana
is a natural extension of the city's previous actions.

S.F. a 'Petri Dish' For Country

Government-grown pot would be new to the United States, but not the world.
Canada and Holland, for example, grow and distribute medical marijuana,
said Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative.

"I think San Francisco in some sense is a petri dish for what will happen
for policy around the country," said Jones, whose club was set up to
dispense medical marijuana but stopped because of federal pressure. The
club now offers classes on how to grow marijuana and provides counseling to
clients, among other services.

Dr. Mitchell Katz, who heads the San Francisco Department of Public Health,
said approval of the ballot measure could send a powerful message: "What it
would show is that San

Francisco is a compassionate place, trying to make sure that an effective
therapy is in place for the people who need it."

Katz, who still practices medicine in the outpatient AIDS ward at San
Francisco General Hospital, has recommended pot use to about 40 of his
patients, using Proposition 215 guidelines.

Cannabis, he said, helps ease pain, numbness and tingling that are side
effects of HIV medications. It's also used to treat glaucoma and multiple
sclerosis and can help alleviate nausea and increase appetite in patients
with cancer and other diseases.

Katz said Proposition 215 is silent on how people should get the medical
marijuana and puts patients at risk by forcing them to look to street
dealers. "We don't want sick people to get marijuana from drug pushers," he
said.