THE CITY TO ENTER THE MARIJUANA BUSINESS -- WHY?

Whatever anyone might think of legalizing medical marijuana or
decriminalizing it entirely -- and California voters have pretty much
shown where they stand -- the proposal to put City Hall in the
medical marijuana business should be rejected.

Especially while San Francisco struggles to balance a crushing $438
million deficit, it makes no sense to start a new program for solving
a nonexistent problem.

No well-informed person would believe it's actually difficult for Bay
Area residents with legitimate -- or not so legitimate -- medical
marijuana needs to conveniently obtain their drug in San Francisco.

There is no shortage of local physicians openly advertising their
willingness to sign a medical marijuana eligibility letter for any
trumped-up claim -- nervousness, digestive upsets, chronic backache,
etc. -- in exchange for $200 or so. If The City ever really
distributes medical marijuana at Department of Public Health clinics,
many patients would be coming in with bogus paperwork from prescription mills.

And if city-run clinics insisted on applying stricter standards to
their pot recipients, they might easily find themselves wasting
scarce health funds on fighting lawsuits from rejected patients.

Some arguments on why San Francisco would benefit from moving
directly into cannabis retailing do not make sense, while other
reasons specifically contradict each other.

The main goal is apparently to provide low-income San Franciscans
with inexpensive or free medical marijuana at city facilities. Yet,
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who authored the proposal, claims the
program would be "cost-neutral" because of profits.

Another alleged major benefit would be to "alleviate the burden on
neighborhoods." There is no denying that some shadier medical
marijuana dispensaries have been neighborhood nuisances.

But surely there are less costly and provocative ways to clean up or
close abusive clubs.

Consistently tougher enforcement of zoning restrictions would do it,
or ordinances could be strengthened to give aggrieved neighbors
better fighting tools.

Mirkarimi wants the city attorney to draft a detailed measure for
supervisors to vote on this summer.

Among the many questions to be answered: Who would supply The City's
medical marijuana?

If underground pot-growers had to follow standard San Francisco
vendor rules, they might be expected to submit written bids, provide
health care for employees and their domestic partners, preferably
have minority or female ownership, and not do business with dictatorships.

The Examiner recognizes Mirkarimi as a generally effective
supervisor, although we disagree with him on numerous issues.

His 2005 legislation regulating medical marijuana outlets brought the
first oversight to The City's clubs and shut down more than a dozen
questionable operations. But this latest brainstorm just opens the
door to worse problems than it fixes.