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 scout24
Hallelujah!
Registered: 02/12/07
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Loc: Disappear Here
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 Let SF sell medical pot
#10172837 - 04/15/09 04:11 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/15/MN10172HH8.DTL
Mirkarimi proposal: Let S.F. sell medical pot
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
San Francisco would be the first city in the nation to sell and distribute medical marijuana under legislation proposed Tuesday by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.
Mirkarimi, who spearheaded legislation more than three years ago to regulate the city's proliferating medical marijuana dispensaries, asked the city attorney to craft a measure that would create a pilot program for medical cannabis sales. The details are still being worked out, Mirkarimi said, but he envisions a pilot program under which the Department of Public Health could distribute pot to medical marijuana patients of city clinics.
Mirkarimi called the legislation the "next step" toward codifying the state laws that legalized medical marijuana, adding that he wanted to introduce the legislation in 2005 when the city was passing the laws regulating the city's marijuana clubs. But he said he waited out of concern that federal law does not recognize California's legalization of medical marijuana.
However, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last month that federal authorities would prosecute only "those people who violate both federal and state law," implying that the government no longer would try to shut down California pot dispensaries.
"We're spending much more money keeping marijuana underground, trying to hide a fact that is occurring all around us," Mirkarimi said. "Now is the time to take responsibility for something we've deflected to others and to test our ability to take responsibility."
Mayor Gavin Newsom's office wasn't so sure. Although the mayor supports medical marijuana, Newsom has said he does not favor efforts to legalize pot, and his office was noncommittal about the proposal for the city to sell it.
"The mayor will have to hash this out with public health officials," press secretary Nathan Ballard said. "It's the mayor's job to weed out bad legislation. And to be blunt, this sounds pretty bad."
San Francisco's successful dispensary regulations, which are now being used as a model for other cities, arose out of concerns that the clubs were operating with no oversight and often attracting criminal elements. The regulations mandate who can run cannabis clubs, limits where they can be located and requires the businesses to receive a city permit that must be approved by four agencies.
The city laws led to the closure of at least 15 clubs. Mirkarimi said he doesn't anticipate the pilot program putting the remaining clubs out of business but said it could "alleviate the burden on neighborhoods" and provide a more "prudent approach to regulation" by moving some pot purchases into city facilities.
Where the city would get the marijuana would be determined later, he said, adding that he views the proposal as "cost-neutral" because the city could recoup any money spent on acquiring and distributing marijuana through sales.
Federal authorities in San Francisco, who have clashed with local officials over federal prosecution of medical marijuana sellers, seemed caught off guard by the proposal. A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Agency said only that federal law has not changed, while U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said the proposal was too vague to comment on.
He noted that a municipality taking over the distribution of medical marijuana doesn't solve the problem that the drug is still illegal under U.S. law.
"I expect that their objective here is to avoid some problems of the disparity between federal and local laws, but I don't know that such an effort - that is, a government takeover - would be to the exclusion of other dispensaries," Russoniello said. "They would just be creating another entity ... and it assumes the city government would act in strict compliance with state regulations, which is a significant assumption."
At least one marijuana advocate praised the proposal. Richard Lee, director of the Oakland dispensary and education group Oaksterdam University, said it's a step in the right direction.
"In general I'm more of a private, free-enterprise guy - I'd rather see the free market do it than the government," he said. "But I'm in favor of anything we can do to legitimize (marijuana) and make the federal position out of date and unenforceable as possible."
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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 NobodyImportant
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 Re: Let SF sell medical pot [Re: scout24]
#10172930 - 04/15/09 04:26 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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"The mayor will have to hash this out with public health officials," press secretary Nathan Ballard said. "It's the mayor's job to weed out bad legislation. And to be blunt, this sounds pretty bad."
that sentence was pun-tastic
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travelleler
a horse-fart in a hurricane
Registered: 08/29/08
Posts: 1,049
Loc: yonder mountains
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Re: Let SF sell medical pot [Re: scout24]
#10173012 - 04/15/09 04:37 PM (3 years, 1 month ago) |
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This article should be on the growery.org
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 Dreams are the fuel of the soul
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suburbanned
Stranger
Registered: 02/20/08
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Quote:
travelleler said:
This article should be on the growery.org
you're retarded
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 PreparationH
apply daily
Registered: 03/28/05
Posts: 13,200
Loc: Amsterdam 
Last seen: 3 minutes, 55 seconds
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Quote:
suburbantoker said:
Quote:
travelleler said:
This article should be on the growery.org
you're retarded
good diagnosis
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come say that at the gathering, see what happens
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AsAboveSoBelow
The matrix has you
Registered: 02/06/08
Posts: 2,515
Last seen: 7 months, 8 days
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lol
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You're gonna get hurt real bad 
They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind
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buddhabadger
Evil Overlord
Registered: 01/16/09
Posts: 491
Loc: The Forest
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Quote:
NobodyImportant said:
"The mayor will have to hash this out with public health officials," press secretary Nathan Ballard said. "It's the mayor's job to weed out bad legislation. And to be blunt, this sounds pretty bad."
that sentence was pun-tastic
This. Why do they (opposition and press) have to do this nearly every time cannabis issues are brought up? They think they're being funny but it just makes them look like the clueless, out of touch morons they are.
Unless they're doing it an attempt to covertly say they toke too, but even in that sense it's clumsy and ham-handed.
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- I don't abuse drugs; in fact, I think I treat them quite nicely. -
Edited by buddhabadger (04/16/09 02:19 AM)
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Cognitive_Shift
@shroomery.org
Registered: 12/11/07
Posts: 22,230
Loc: OhighO
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I'm confused, only skimmed the article. But doesn't SF already have dispensaries? What would this law change?
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L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
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scout24
Hallelujah!
Registered: 02/12/07
Posts: 2,766
Loc: Disappear Here
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Quote:
scout24 said:
San Francisco would be the first city in the nation to sell and distribute medical marijuana under legislation proposed Tuesday by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.
Dispensaries are currently privately owned.
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clover606
Stranger
Registered: 08/13/07
Posts: 656
Last seen: 6 months, 15 days
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Quote:
NobodyImportant said:
"The mayor will have to hash this out with public health officials," press secretary Nathan Ballard said. "It's the mayor's job to weed out bad legislation. And to be blunt, this sounds pretty bad."
that sentence was pun-tastic
beat me too it.
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grassman said:
I remember being in DARE when i was much younger and some of the stories they would tell you are not only ridiculous, but completely untrue. One story was that a woman was on LSD and thought her infant was a turkey so she baked it in the oven. Now I look back and think thats hilarious, but at the time I guess it scared me.
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