Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 2007
Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 San Francisco Bay Guardian
Contact:  http://www.sfbg.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/387
Author: Rachel Stern

HISTORIC HIGH

The City's First Medical Marijuana Center Moves Toward Landmark Status

The Board of Supervisors is moving to designate the  first medical 
marijuana center in the city a historic  landmark. The move 
circumvents disability access rules  that could have put the 
Compassionate Care Clinic out  of business.

The clinic, which has also operated under the names  Champ and 
Cannabis Buyer's Club, has been open in the  Castro since 1992. But 
disability access requirements,  recently proposed by Sup. Michela 
Alioto-Pier, have put  it on shaky ground: if the second-story 
dispensary is  unable to install an elevator by March 1, 2008, it 
could be forced to close its doors.

The landmark status, which was proposed by Sup. Bevan  Dufty, would 
exempt the clinic from the Alioto-Pier  amendment.

Michael Aldrich, who once served as the clinic's  executive director 
and prepared the landmark papers,  told us that the dispensary simply 
cannot meet the new  building requirements. CCC staffers meet 
wheelchair-bound patients downstairs, offer a free  delivery service, 
and, in suitable cases, help carry  patients upstairs.

Alioto-Pier doesn't buy the landmark bill. She didn't  return calls 
for this story but has previously told us  that "specifically because 
they are medical ... it's  important for MCDs to be accessible."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman