S.F. CONSIDERS GROWING ITS OWN MEDICINAL POT

Supervisors Put Measure On November Ballot

Frustrated by the federal government's determination to shut down medicinal
marijuana clubs, San Francisco is thinking about growing its own.

The board of supervisors voted late Monday to put a measure on the November
ballot that would have city officials explore growing marijuana on publicly
owned lots and distributing it to ill patients.

Job Training

Supporters said such a program could double as job training for the unemployed.

"I don't think it would be all that dramatic a venture," said Supervisor
Mark Leno, who proposed the idea with three colleagues.

The city already issues medicinal marijuana use cards to patients who have
a doctor's permission. California was the first state to approve the use of
medicinal marijuana, with the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996.

"The health department or some other entity would distribute it over their
own counter," Leno said Tuesday. "We already have 4,000 San Franciscans
coming in to get medical marijuana ID cards; now they could also get their
marijuana."

Leno said he drafted the proposal because the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration remains determined to close down medicinal marijuana clubs
in the city and across California. When DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson
spoke in San Francisco in February, Leno was protesting out front with a
bullhorn.

"If the federal government is going to continue to harass and shut down
these clubs, then I think it's the city's responsibility to take action,"
he said.

Supervisors, hesitant to take on the federal government without being sure
of their own political support, voted to put the measure on the ballot.

"Challenging federal law is a significant step for a city to take," Leno
said. "Before the elected body should do that, I think it's important for
voters to share their opinions. If 60 or 70 percent of voters say 'yes,'
the supervisors would be on very solid ground knowing that voters would be
with us."

"We have a lot of land," Leno added. "That's not going to be a problem."

The problem is that cultivating, possessing and distributing marijuana are
illegal under federal law.

"Unless Congress changes the law and makes marijuana a legal substance,
then we have to do our job and enforce the law, whether or not it's
popular," said Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman in San Francisco.

Meyer said that if San Francisco began growing marijuana, it would be
"business as usual. We'd conduct an investigation, collect the evidence and
take appropriate action."

Four Arrests

Pro-pot advocates in California have already faced a series of federal
crackdowns that culminated in a raid and four arrests at a medicinal
marijuana club just hours before Hutchinson spoke.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, who also protested
Hutchinson's speech, was unavailable for comment but has been outspoken in
his support of the clubs. Police have refused to participate in any raids,
and last year city leaders declared San Francisco a sanctuary for medicinal
cannabis use.

Medicinal marijuana advocates lauded the ballot measure.

"The real fight we've been having is distribution," said Wayne Justmann,
who has been HIV positive for more than 15 years, carries the first
city-issued ID card and operates one of San Francisco's 11 remaining pot clubs.

Canada and Holland already grow and distribute medicinal marijuana, said
Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.