MARIJUANA TASK FORCE NOT SUCH A SPACEY IDEA

Supervisor David Campos' idea to create a task force for medical
marijuana conjures up an image of a paramilitary pot enforcement unit
- - OK everybody, put down the brownies and step away from the bongs.

Actually, Campos insists, it couldn't be more innocuous.

"I see it holding hearings and providing feedback. It is a chance to
provide expertise and guidance, not final policy," he said.

Regardless of how Campos explains it, this will still sound like a
kookie San Francisco concept. Campos' plan is to gather a 13-person
committee of medical marijuana patients, dispensary operators,
neighborhood leaders and even (gasp) growers to discuss new
directions in medical marijuana policy. He sees the group looking
into tax revenue from dispensaries (already in place in Oakland), to
standards for edible cannabis, to truly controversial issues like
city-sanctioned cultivation of pot.

But let's be honest, the chances that this group is going to announce
that marijuana should be severely restricted are very slim.

Quite frankly, this isn't a bad idea.

Campos says that when the Justice Department issued a policy memo in
October stating that pot-smoking patients and their authorized
suppliers should not be singled out for federal prosecution - it
signaled a new world for medical marijuana enforcement.

"I think this is the future," he said. "Some people are probably not
happy about that, but the federal government is signaling it will
look the other way."

San Francisco isn't the only city exploring this idea. This week the
medical marijuana task force for San Diego - never considered a
liberal stronghold - presented recommendations for an improved permit
process and zoning laws to the City Council.

"Certainly, there is a lot of political difference between San Diego
and San Francisco," said Alex Kreit, a former San Francisco attorney
who now teaches at a San Diego law school and is chairman of the
local task force. "But what I think is interesting is only about 9
percent of the population here supported a complete ban of the pot
clubs."

"Maybe," said Campos, when he heard about San Diego's task force,
"we're not as radical as we think we are."

I wouldn't go that far.

Kreit says much of what San Diego is studying is based on what San
Francisco has already done. There is discussion about keeping
dispensaries away from schools, limiting the concentration in
neighborhoods, and establishing a strict permit process.

What ground-breaking issues does that leave for San Francisco? Campos
wonders if it's time to consider city-controlled growing. We allow
people to buy marijuana, but where does it come from? The pot fairy?

Obviously, much of it is coming from illegal growers, including
sleazy grow houses in local neighborhoods. It is a prescription for
criminal activity.

"It's controversial, but if you could get the state to establish a
clear and consistent set of rules for cultivation, that would make
the most sense." said Bruce Mirken, the San Francisco-based
communications director for the national Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C.

And if the state won't do that, Campos says, "Maybe we should go down
that road."

It sounds controversial. But consider the alternative - letting
medical marijuana dispensaries expand without permits, restrictions
or planning. Right now Los Angeles is attempting to get a handle on
what city officials estimate is between 800 and 1,000 unrestricted
dispensaries.

"If you wanted to write a textbook on how to screw up medical
marijuana," said Mirken, "the first thing you should do is hire the
Los Angeles City Council."

Sounds like Los Angeles council members could use a medical marijuana
task force. San Francisco could offer them some advice. In exchange,
they could help us form a task force on how to create a winning
professional basketball team.