©1997 San Francisco Chronicle

San Mateo County Plan On Pot to Get Audience

Marshall Wilson, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Mateo

San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin is taking his campaign to distribute
medical marijuana through countyrun facilities to Sacramento, where he
plans to discuss the idea with legalized pot's biggest skeptic, Attorney
General Dan Lungren. Nevin said yesterday the meeting with Lungren is set
for November 14.

Nevin wants the county to dispense marijuana to people suffering pain from
cancer, AIDS and other diseases through its hospital and pharmacies. He
said such a plan would end the controversy surrounding socalled cannabis
clubs, which are not uniformly regulated.

Lungren and some lawmakers have been critical of cannabis clubs and
consider them illegal, despite passage of the medical marijuana initiative
last November. Nevin thinks he can change Lungren's mind by putting a
government agency in charge of distribution.

``It just makes sense,'' said Nevin, a former San Francisco police officer.
``We already have in place a secure system where people can receive
medication.''

Nevin estimated about 1,500 people in San Mateo County may qualify for
medical marijuana.

The idea for a countyrun dispensary began after a businessman approached
officials with a plan to grow and distribute marijuana in a building near
Redwood City. In response, supervisors imposed a 45day emergency ban on
such facilities and are likely to extend it to six months or more.

At a supervisors' meeting yesterday, the businessman, Salvador Garcia, said
government should butt out of marijuana distribution. Garcia said cannabis
clubs should be run by private enterprise.

He wants to open a facility on Middlefield Road in the North Fair Oaks
neighborhood.

But Nevin said a private facility cannot guarantee potency or quality.
Putting the county in charge also would take any profit motive out of
growing and distributing the marijuana.

Because people suffering from painful diseases often cannot travel long
distances, Nevin said it does not make sense to distribute the drug from a
single dispensary.

Nevin's proposal is the latest controversy stemming from the medical
marijuana initiative. The measure, passed by voters last year, legalized
the use of marijuana with a physician's approval but did nothing to
regulate how the drug should be provided