Pubdate: Thu, 07 Nov 2002
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: John M. Glionna, Times Staff Writer
Note: Times staff writers Jenifer Ragland in Ventura, Tony Perry in San 
Diego and special correspondent Emily Gurnon in Eureka contributed to this 
report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

SAN FRANCISCO TO CONSIDER GROWING POT AFTER PROP. S PASSES

SAN FRANCISCO -- Officials here will name a panel to seriously consider 
entering the pot-growing business now that voters have approved a measure 
directing them to study whether this city should cultivate and sell its own 
medical marijuana.

In what officials called a first-step gesture of defiance against the 
federal government's zero-tolerance marijuana policy, voters passed 
Proposition S by a 2-1 ratio.

San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno said officials will name a three-member 
committee to "hold hearings and bring in professional expertise," exploring 
legal and medical ramifications of the program.

"We're breaking new ground here," Leno said. "Our mission is to fulfill the 
will of the voters."

The success of the controversial measure, which was not backed by Mayor 
Willie Brown, has miffed federal officials, who have made arrests at 
medicinal pot clubs in San Francisco and elsewhere in California.

"The mayor of San Francisco has said publicly he doesn't think the city 
should get into the pot-growing business, and we support him," said Richard 
Meyer, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in San 
Francisco. "It's an illegal substance."

Brown spokesman P.J. Johnston said the mayor did not take a position on 
Proposition S. Though a supporter of citizen access to medical marijuana, 
Brown doesn't believe the measure moves in the right direction. "It's a 
little too wacky, even for San Francisco," Johnston said.

Other issues settled by California voters Tuesday ranged from the 
substantive to the quirky.

- - In Oakland, a city recently racked by homicides, voters passed a measure 
to hire 100 police officers but defeated a companion tax measure that would 
have paid for them.

Erica Herrold, a spokeswoman for Mayor Jerry Brown, called the election 
outcome "bittersweet."

In a city suffering from considerable budget deficits, "we really don't 
know how we're going to pay for these officers," she said.

"But Mayor Brown is committed to rolling up his sleeves and finding a way 
to accomplish the voter mandate. We're going to have to look at some 
creative financing."

- - In adjacent Berkeley, residents soundly rejected an initiative that would 
have required that all coffee in city cafes be grown in an environmentally 
friendly way and sold at a "fair trade" price as a way to help struggling 
Third World growers. Opponents of Measure O, which would have tripled the 
price paid to growers, defeated the proposal by a 70% margin.

- - In San Francisco, voters also passed a measure to change the way the city 
assists the homeless. Sponsored by Supervisor Gavin Newsom, a mayoral 
hopeful, Proposition N slashes city welfare payments made to about 3,000 
people from $395 to just $59 a month, using the savings to create more 
affordable housing and services.

In a split decision on urban sprawl, California voters rejected large 
development projects Tuesday, but balked at imposing new limits on home 
building in cities around the state.

Voters blocked construction of thousands of new dwellings in Ventura and 
Alameda counties, but in a litmus test for just how far activists could go, 
a second generation of growth controls failed in Sonoma County, Berkeley 
and Simi Valley.

And an environmental backlash measure in rural Nevada County, which would 
have reimbursed property owners when local regulations prevented full 
development of their land, also lost handily.

Nevada County Supervisor Peter Van Zant said voters realized the measure 
would have drained county coffers and set a dangerous precedent.

In San Diego, Superior Court Judge Bonnie Dumanis defeated Dist. Atty. Paul 
Pfingst, a two-term incumbent. Pfingst's reelection bid was hurt by a vote 
of no confidence from his deputies and controversy over his handling of 
several high-profile cases.

Although Dumanis is leading Pfingst by nearly 3,000 votes, 80,000 absentee 
ballots remain to be counted. But Pfingst all but conceded the election in 
an e-mail to his staff.

Times staff writers Jenifer Ragland in Ventura, Tony Perry in San Diego and 
special correspondent Emily Gurnon in Eureka contributed to this report.
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