SAN FRANCISCO MAY HELP ESTABLISH MARIJUANA COOPERATIVES

SAN FRANCISCO - Buoyed by a recent federal court decision and changes in
state law, this sanctuary for the medical marijuana movement might soon try
to help establish nonprofit cooperatives to grow pot for the ill.

"It's looking better and better," said San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano.

"We've always had the inclination for the public policy and a lot of
cooperation from the police, the Department of Public Health, the city
attorney and district attorneys. The public sentiment is there. I think San
Francisco is in a pivotal position to push this forward. .. It's up to us
elected officials to find a way."

But a push by city leaders to back medical cannabis dispensaries might
prompt swift retaliation by the federal government, a recent city staff
report warned.

Ammiano said, however, that the city believed it had found "the most benign
way, with minimum liability and pre-emption of the federal government."

Backers of medical marijuana welcomed the report, which comes more than a
year after voters in the city overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that
directed city officials to explore establishing a program to grow and
distribute cannabis to the sick.

Although city officials stop far short of recommending that San Francisco
get into the marijuana cultivation business, cannabis activists say it is a
solid first step.

"San Francisco has a long-standing commitment to medical marijuana," said
Marsha Rosenbaum of the Drug Policy Alliance. "It is now up to the city
government to work closely with patients and caregivers to put this plan
into practice."

The report by the city's Office of Legislative Analysis spells out several
possible ways for San Francisco to get involved in growing medical
marijuana -- as well as potential pitfalls.

City help could range from amending the planning code to providing grant
funds for the purchase of land or equipment used by a cooperative. The
benefit of city involvement, the report said, would be to reduce the risk
and cost of providing medical marijuana to chronically and terminally ill
patients in the city, which for years has had one of the largest
concentrations of AIDS patients in the nation.

But steps to help establish dispensaries, the report warned, could pose
risks on several fronts.

City endorsement and funding of cannabis cooperatives could increase
liability problems. The city might be liable, for instance, for an accident
caused by a driver intoxicated by marijuana provided by a city-sanctioned
cooperative.

The city could face an even greater legal risk in terms of the federal
government's possible reaction. The United States maintains a strict
prohibition on the use of marijuana and might challenge an effort by San
Francisco to help with medical marijuana cultivation. Even if the federal
government failed to deter the city in the courts, politics could come into
play if the Bush administration moved to pull grants earmarked for San
Francisco, the analysis said.

An official with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's San
Francisco office said the city could become a target.

"Federal law doesn't make any distinction about marijuana," said Richard
Meyer of the agency.

"No individual or institution is above the law. They would be in violation
of the law, and it would be within our right to proceed as with any other
investigation."

For more than a decade, San Francisco has been a hot spot for the medical
marijuana movement.

More than 7,000 medical cannabis ID cards have been issued by the city
health department, and 14 medical marijuana buyers clubs operate within its
borders. Buyers clubs, unlike cooperatives, do not grow their own supply
and therefore have less protection under state and federal law, the city
report said.

The city is looking to model its approach on a medicinal marijuana
cooperative in Santa Cruz that challenged federal prohibitions on
constitutional grounds after a September 2002 raid by drug agents shut down
its growing operation.

Unlike pot-buyer clubs that sell marijuana to patients, the Wo/Men's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana is a collective of 250 patients who grow and
distribute cannabis with no money exchanging hands. The alliance argues
that it is free of all vestiges of interstate commerce and thus immune from
federal drug laws, which are based on the constitutional provisions of the
commerce clause.

Under a federal court decision in December, collectives such as the
alliance enjoy more protection from legal action by the U.S. government,
officials in San Francisco believe.

State legislation signed into law last year also would help, city officials
said. The law clarified that a single caregiver can serve more than one
patient -- allowing a collective to have a few gardeners who tend and
distribute crops to a number of patients -- and allowed for the creation of
nonprofit cooperatives.

The statute also provides that marijuana may not be cultivated or
distributed for profit, although a primary caregiver may get compensation
for expenses.