FISHERMAN'S WHARF SHOPS FUME OVER POT CLUB

Millions of people come to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf each year
for their fix of crab and sourdough. Now one Generation X businessman
wants to open a medicinal marijuana dispensary in the Bay Area's
most-visited tourist mecca.

Many locals, however, are not too high on the concept.

"It's all about fish, not pot," steams Chris Martin, owner of the
Cannery, who says the wharf should be about history and for kids. A
medical pot shop, he worries, would create "more of a carnival
atmosphere and may increase crime."

Plans by the Green Cross to sell marijuana to patients with a doctor's
permission is pitting the Dungeness vs. the cannabis crowd in a battle
as hot as a boiling crab pot. San Francisco's planning commissioners
today will take a crucial vote on the proposal.

The proprietor of the Green Cross dispensary agrees that the wharf is
hardly an ideal location for his customers -- terrible parking for one
thing. But, he says, new city rules created zones so confining that
about the only places to legally sell marijuana now are around the
wharf or in the Financial District.

Will it add to the carnival atmosphere at Fisherman's
Wharf?

Hardly, says Green Cross owner Kevin Reed. "There are 30 different
bars and different restaurants within two blocks of here," he said.

He pointed out that he must comply with dozens of regulations,
including hiring security guards and controlling odor emissions,
before he can open on Leavenworth Street just down the block from the
Cannery, a century-old building with stores, restaurants and bars.

"We are playing by the rules," said Reed, 32, whose earlier
marijuana dispensary on the edge of Noe Valley was closed in a
compromise with city officials after San Francisco clamped down on pot
clubs.

Wharf battles are not new. In-N-Out Burger ticked off the fishmongers
at its opening. The addition of a Hooters restaurant was a frontal
assault to traditionalists.

Now, the dispensary debate comes as local crab and salmon fishermen
are under siege and cannot afford to berth their picturesque floating
crafts. The city is threatening to tear down a century-old pier. And
tourism, while rebounding, has not reached pre-Sept. 11 levels,
dispensary opponents say.

One merchant complained that bringing a pot club to the neighborhood
is akin to the headaches of "a big-box retailer or fast-food drive-in."

Supporters of the Green Cross laugh. "It's metro-chic," said
Kathleen Prevost, a medicinal marijuana user who dropped by Wednesday
to check out the proposed new digs. "It's in Amsterdam, in Paris."

Reed said he is not targeting tourists. In fact, the only customers
who will be allowed through the fortified front door must carry state
or city-issued medicinal marijuana cards, which require a doctor's
written permission. There will be a one-ounce per customer limit.

And no marijuana smoking will be allowed on or near the
premises.

But perhaps the biggest only-in-San Francisco irony is that the
Cannery, the pot club's biggest opponent, has served as the temporary
home to a museum that celebrates one of San Francisco's original
joint-toting countercultures -- the Beat Generation.