MIRKARIMI PROPOSAL: LET S.F. SELL MEDICAL POT

San Francisco would be the first city in the nation to sell and
distribute medical marijuana under legislation proposed Tuesday by
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

Mirkarimi, who spearheaded legislation more than three years ago to
regulate the city's proliferating medical marijuana dispensaries,
asked the city attorney to craft a measure that would create a pilot
program for medical cannabis sales. The details are still being worked
out, Mirkarimi said, but he envisions a pilot program under which the
Department of Public Health could distribute pot to medical marijuana
patients of city clinics.

Mirkarimi called the legislation the "next step" toward codifying the
state laws that legalized medical marijuana, adding that he wanted to
introduce the legislation in 2005 when the city was passing the laws
regulating the city's marijuana clubs. But he said he waited out of
concern that federal law does not recognize California's legalization
of medical marijuana.

However, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last month that
federal authorities would prosecute only "those people who violate
both federal and state law," implying that the government no longer
would try to shut down California pot dispensaries.

"We're spending much more money keeping marijuana underground, trying
to hide a fact that is occurring all around us," Mirkarimi said. "Now
is the time to take responsibility for something we've deflected to
others and to test our ability to take responsibility."

Mayor Gavin Newsom's office wasn't so sure. Although the mayor
supports medical marijuana, Newsom has said he does not favor efforts
to legalize pot, and his office was noncommittal about the proposal
for the city to sell it.

"The mayor will have to hash this out with public health officials,"
press secretary Nathan Ballard said. "It's the mayor's job to weed out
bad legislation. And to be blunt, this sounds pretty bad."

San Francisco's successful dispensary regulations, which are now being
used as a model for other cities, arose out of concerns that the clubs
were operating with no oversight and often attracting criminal
elements. The regulations mandate who can run cannabis clubs, limits
where they can be located and requires the businesses to receive a
city permit that must be approved by four agencies.

The city laws led to the closure of at least 15 clubs. Mirkarimi said
he doesn't anticipate the pilot program putting the remaining clubs
out of business but said it could "alleviate the burden on
neighborhoods" and provide a more "prudent approach to regulation" by
moving some pot purchases into city facilities.

Where the city would get the marijuana would be determined later, he
said, adding that he views the proposal as "cost-neutral" because the
city could recoup any money spent on acquiring and distributing
marijuana through sales.

Federal authorities in San Francisco, who have clashed with local
officials over federal prosecution of medical marijuana sellers,
seemed caught off guard by the proposal. A spokeswoman for the Drug
Enforcement Agency said only that federal law has not changed, while
U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said the proposal was too vague to
comment on.

He noted that a municipality taking over the distribution of medical
marijuana doesn't solve the problem that the drug is still illegal
under U.S. law.

"I expect that their objective here is to avoid some problems of the
disparity between federal and local laws, but I don't know that such
an effort - that is, a government takeover - would be to the exclusion
of other dispensaries," Russoniello said. "They would just be creating
another entity ... and it assumes the city government would act in
strict compliance with state regulations, which is a significant
assumption."

At least one marijuana advocate praised the proposal. Richard Lee,
director of the Oakland dispensary and education group Oaksterdam
University, said it's a step in the right direction.

"In general I'm more of a private, free-enterprise guy - I'd rather
see the free market do it than the government," he said. "But I'm in
favor of anything we can do to legitimize (marijuana) and make the
federal position out of date and unenforceable as possible."