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   S.F. Permit Process Is Too Confusing
Posted by CN Staff on October 26, 2006 at 07:06:07 PT
By Sajid Farooq, The Examiner 
Source: San Francisco Examiner 

medical San Francisco -- With less than eight months left before all medical cannabis dispensaries in The City have to be registered under new permitting regulations, some say the process is too ambiguous or difficult to understand.

Last year The City created a permitting process to better regulate the clubs and control where they opened. The dispensaries are illegal under federal law but allowed in California under state law, created by the voter-approved Proposition 215 in 1996, to serve patients with a doctor’s prescription.

After months of debates, the Board of Supervisors settled on an ordinance that prohibited clubs from opening within 1,000 feet of a school, youth center and community clubhouse or neighborhood center. It also limited patients to one ounce of marijuana per visit instead of the previously allotted pound. Since the measure was passed, 12 clubs, out of 28 in The City, have applied for a permit. All dispensaries have until July 2007 to apply for a permit or face closure. During the process, some club owners, residents and even city officials have complained that some of the restrictions, such as the definition of a neighborhood center, are confusing.

“I don’t think [the law is ambiguous],” said Dan Sider of the Planning Department. “Certainly there are allegations.”

What constitutes a neighborhood center was at the center of the debate when the Green Cross, the first dispensary to go through the permitting process, went before the Planning Commission this summer. The Planning Department said the proposed location for the club at 2701 Leavenworth St., near Fisherman’s Wharf, met all the requirements of the ordinance. But residents complained that there were several gyms, a park and other community gathering areas nearby.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s office, which drafted the regulations, said the ambiguities were already there because restrictions such as prohibiting the establishments from opening within 1,000 feet of a school or community center were taken from either state laws or existing planning documents. The Planning Department’s zoning administrator pulled the definition of a recreation center from the planning code just last Friday, according to Sider.

“In our experience, the city staff were all very friendly, but most of the clerks did not know what we were talking about,” said Kevin Reed, the owner of the Green Cross. “Let me be clear [that] city staff have all been incredible — responsive, supportive and helpful. But there is not a lot of coherence, and there is very little understanding about the regulations that were adopted.”

Before a dispensary can open it must be approved by the Planning Commission, the Department of Public Health Department, the Fire Department and the Police Department. Reed’s club was denied its permit before the Planning Commission in August. But last week the Planning Department approved a permit for a club for the first time, according to Sider. Hope Net, on Ninth Avenue, still has to be approved by the DPH, which is yet to look at a permitting application.

Note: Planning Department backs restrictions; deadline for registrations in eight months.

Complete Title: Pot Club Advocates: S.F. Permit Process Is Too Confusing

Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Author: Sajid Farooq, The Examiner
Published: October 26, 2006
Copyright: 2006 San Francisco Examiner
Contact: letters@sfexaminer.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/

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Comment #15 posted by FoM on October 27, 2006 at 07:49:28 PT
Had Enough
That's just adorable of you to say about your wife.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #14 posted by Had Enough on October 27, 2006 at 07:32:06 PT
Billboard
How did my Bride’s picture get put up on that Billboard??? :-)

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #13 posted by whig on October 26, 2006 at 20:34:44 PT
publicbulldog
As I understand it, Ed Rosenthal was deputized by the city of Oakland to grow cannabis for medical patients. It did not stop the federal government from prosecuting him, and when his conviction (for which he was sentenced to one day in jail) was overturned on appeal for juror misconduct (jurors who wanted to acquit in the teeth of the law had been improperly advised they could go to jail if they did so), the federal government has now obtained a superseding indictment and are prosecuting him again for the same charge with some embellishments.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by publicbulldog on October 26, 2006 at 19:31:25 PT:

the only way to legal grow and distribute
Medical Marijuana is thru a medical research program thru a State University or State run Health Department. The States that have legalized medical marijuana are farting around trying to stay hooked up to the Federal trough and honor the initiatives at the same time. The Federal controlled substances act could be by-passed with a State,County,or City run research project. But the states that have legalized medical marijuana have their nose to far into the Federal trough,and the bryne grants and JAG grants to care about protecting state patients and honoring the intent of the initiatives. It could all be over yesterday if a City,County,or State decided to grow and distribute medical marijuana thru a research program thru state health departments or thru State Universities. They just cant resist the Federal trough,and they do not want to lose the union jobs that enforce the Federal laws over the State laws using State matching funds.. The States are controlled by the government services unions that still want to arrest medical marijuana patients for a union wage.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #11 posted by whig on October 26, 2006 at 17:46:48 PT
mayan
Should we talk about galactic intelligence or will that freak people out too much? LOL.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #10 posted by mayan on October 26, 2006 at 17:34:44 PT
whig
Yes, the sun and earth are to be undergoing a polar-flip simultaneously. Magnetic north used to be in Alaska but now it is over the ocean and rapidly moving towards Siberia. It accelerates every year.

The ozone hole,which supposedly has little impact on climate change, is mainly caused by human-made CFC's. However, I have no doubt that the warming of earth is directly related to the sun's cycles and the fact that we are still coming out of an ice-age...but deforestation and the burning of fossil-fuels could possibly be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Imho, we should be very cautious as to how we might be affecting the climate.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #9 posted by whig on October 26, 2006 at 10:48:04 PT
FoM
Beautiful billboard. I posted it on cannablog.

http://cannablog.wordpress.com/2006/10/26/new-billboard-campaign-in-colorado/

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #8 posted by Toker00 on October 26, 2006 at 10:33:03 PT
B Board
I have to say this. Yum. Women look absolutely delicious, in Green. :) Forgive?

Toke.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #7 posted by whig on October 26, 2006 at 10:31:01 PT
mayan
What if I told you the magnetic poles might switch. Everything that is happening in the environment is related to everything that is happening in the solar system. The galactic equator is going to cross the sun in about six years.

That is the turning of the calendar, perhaps.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #6 posted by Max Flowers on October 26, 2006 at 08:57:25 PT
#1 - I see right through this
It's an insidious plot to make millions of pot-smoking young men afraid that they will get their girlfriends pregnant even easier, and thus make them quit smoking it!

(just kidding)

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 26, 2006 at 08:07:03 PT
Mayan
You are a fellow so I would suspect it has eye appeal for you. Guys are like that yes they are! LOL!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #4 posted by mayan on October 26, 2006 at 08:04:24 PT
FoM
I like that billboard. It really catches the eye! Thanks for the poll.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by mayan on October 26, 2006 at 08:03:03 PT
Off Topic
Hole in ozone layer reaches record size: http://tinyurl.com/y758ay

World economy 'faces ruin' from climate change: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/world-economy-faces-ruin-from-climate-change/2006/10/26/1161749256719.html

Have we reached the point of no return?

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 26, 2006 at 07:45:37 PT
Pro-Marijuana Billboards Debut
October 24, 2006

Poll: Do you think it should be legal for adults to possess small amounts of marijuana in Colorado?

Current Results:

Yes - 74%

No - 22%

Not Sure - 4%

Please Vote: http://tinyurl.com/yhemax

DENVER -- Colorado's Amendment 44 campaign took it's message to the street Tuesday.

Several new billboards were unveiled to promote -what advocates claim- would be the personal health benefits, and the positive impact on society if marijuana was legalized.

The passage of Amendment 44 would allow for the possession and use of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults under Colorado state law. Denver voters overwhelmingly approved a similar initiative last year.

The billboards feature a bikini-clad woman and read "Marijuana: No Hangovers, No Violence, No Carbs!"

"We will continue to do everything in our power to make people thing about the fact that our laws irrationally drive people to drink and prohibit the use of marijuana," said SAFER Campaign Director Mason Tvert.

Opponents of Amendment 44 include many civic leaders and members law enforcement who argue that marijuana is a so-called 'gateway drug' and is more dangerous than advocates are willing to acknowledge.

Copyright: 2006 Fox Television Stations, Inc.

URL: http://tinyurl.com/yhemax

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by mayan on October 26, 2006 at 07:24:40 PT
Wonder Weed
Sorry if this has already been posted...

Marijuana-like Chemical Can Restore Sperm Function Lost to Tobacco Abuse: http://www.rxpgnews.com/specialtopics/article_5093.shtml

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