Pubdate: Sun, 05 Feb 2012
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Copyright: 2012 SF Newspaper Company LLC
Contact:  http://www.sfexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/389
Author: Chris Roberts

MEDICAL POT CLUBS UNDER A CLOUD AS FEDERAL CRACKDOWN, COURT DECISIONS LOOM

Among the Tenderloin's problems - brothels masquerading as massage 
parlors, open-air dealing of heroin, oxycodone, crack cocaine and 
other hard drugs - medical marijuana seemed low on the list of law 
enforcement priorities.

Yet it was a nondescript storefront in the 600 block of O'Farrell 
Street that drew the attention of Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney for 
Northern California.

In November, Haag wrote a letter to the landlord of Sanctuary warning 
of property forfeiture and a long jail term unless the dispensary was 
evicted. The medical marijuana club had operated at 669 O'Farrell St. 
with a city license and without complaint or issue since 2005, the 
Department of Public Health said.

Sanctuary passed annual inspections that stated the collective 
complied with San Francisco law, which is slightly stricter than the 
state medical marijuana law. But because marijuana remains illegal 
under federal law, state-legal dispensaries such as Sanctuary - along 
with four other storefront dispensaries in the Mission, Upper Market 
and Tenderloin neighborhoods - have closed.

The U.S. Justice Department's crackdown on collectives that appear to 
be in compliance with state and local laws has reminded The City's 21 
remaining dispensaries exactly how precarious their positions are.

"In less than six months, this could all be gone," said Stephanie 
Tucker, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Task 
Force. "The medical cannabis movement is in danger."

Haag's office offered "no comment" on its enforcement actions, 
according to an email from spokesman Jack Gillund. California became 
the first state in the country to legalize medical marijuana when 
Proposition 215 was approved by voters in 1996. In 2005, San 
Francisco became the first city in the state to offer its own local 
regulations and permitting system when the Board of Supervisors 
passed the Medical Cannabis Act.

Each San Francisco dispensary closed by Haag's office passed annual 
inspections determining they were in compliance with city law, 
according to Public Health. Two have since resumed business as 
delivery-only services, and also have filed lawsuits in federal court 
asking the government to step in and reverse the closures. And a 
state court decision is weighing on minds in the medical marijuana movement.

Local laws permitting medical marijuana violate federal law, 
according to a state appellate court decision in a lawsuit out of 
Southern California. That decision - Pack v. the city of Long Beach - 
led San Francisco and other cities to delay or suspend their local 
ordinances. However, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear an 
appeal of the case.

In turn, San Francisco resumed permitting new medical cannabis 
dispensaries Monday after a two-month pause. Medical marijuana 
advocates have asked influential local elected leaders - including 
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Lt. Gov. 
Gavin Newsom, former San Francisco mayor - to use their political 
clout to prevent further federal interference.

But to date, neither Pelosi nor Newsom - or even Mayor Ed Lee - 
appears interested in taking up the issue.

Lee's first public statement on the issue was to say he had no position.

"Because this is medical marijuana, I'll take my lead from our 
experts, which is the Department of Public Health," Lee said. "That's 
where I'll get all my information, and until I get that, I'll be very 
reluctant to say anything publicly."

Allies scarce in City Hall, state Capitol

Medical marijuana does not appear to have a dedicated advocate at 
City Hall, and local leaders on the state level seem to want to punt the issue.

The City's 2005 Medical Cannabis Act was written by former Supervisor 
Ross Mirkarimi, who is now sheriff. And while eight of the 11 
supervisors signed on to a resolution last fall decrying the U.S. 
Justice Department shuttering of licensed, taxpaying medical cannabis 
dispensaries, it's unclear what further actions the board can - or is 
willing - to take.

Mayor Ed Lee's predecessor, Gavin Newsom, was publicly supportive of 
medical marijuana as mayor - and recently, as lieutenant governor, he 
spoke in support of reformed drug laws at a conference in Los Angeles.

Yet other state politicians with Bay Area ties have avoided the 
subject of cannabis.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who as an Oakland-based state attorney general 
authored a set of medical marijuana guidelines for dispensaries and 
others to follow, has not commented on the dismantling of the industry.

Rather than issuing updated guidelines as expected - a draft version 
of new guidelines was leaked to the media last summer - Attorney 
General Kamala Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, sent 
a letter in December to Legislature leaders asking them for "clarity" 
on medical marijuana laws.

"There is no further clarity that the state can provide," Assemblyman 
Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said in a statement. "Proposition 215 
is the law in California and has been for the last 15 years."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart