San Francisco leads the way with medical marijuana clubs
Quietly, with little fanfare, San Francisco is on the way to becoming a model for medical marijuana clubs done the right way. Exploitive, profit-hungry drug clubs are being forced out and community-based, patient-friendly ones are becoming the norm. Neighbors have shut down dispensaries in school zones, and patient services have been increased.
Beginning in 2005, when Mayor Gavin Newsom worried aloud about “a path that would allow for a club on every street corner,” the city has made a series of small steps that have improved a situation that was nearly out of control. A moratorium on new clubs was enacted, and Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Michela Alioto-Pier pushed for restrictive legislation. Among other things, all pot clubs were required to get an operating permit from the Planning Commission. Neighborhood input, proximity to schools, and criminal and employment background checks were all included in the consideration for a permit.
Since then, almost half of the clubs have closed. And here’s an indication of just how well the regulations have worked. When state Attorney General Jerry Brown proposed strict state guidelines for marijuana dispensaries in August, and Newsom’s office drafted similar regulations a month later, advocates responded immediately - they said they were wholeheartedly in favor.
“We went through 10 years of an unregulated cannabis environment,” said Kevin Reed, president of Green Cross dispensary, which delivers medical marijuana to patients. “Now they are going to try something completely different, and to see it run correctly is a wonderful thing.” More.
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