3/21/2005: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called today for a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city after he learned that one of these clinics, called the Holistic Center, planned to open this week on the ground floor of the All-Star Hotel, which is a city-funded SRO hotel that is home to a number of recovering drug addicts.

San Francisco has become home to more than 30 percent of the state's 125-plus dispensaries that have opened since 1996, Newsom said. However, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how many such clinics operate in the city, he said, because they are not regulated. "I believe in the core of my cores that medicinal marijuana is appropriate and right...(but) I also think there needs to be some common sense and grounding as it relates to the proliferation of these clubs in San Francisco." Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier plans to introduce an emergency ordinance for a moratorium at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting that could be passed as early as next week. It will require approval from nine of the 11 supervisors for passage.

An Audit Committee in San Francisco will conduct an open hearing about the regulation of medical marijuana in the City will take place on April 25th at City Hall. More information will be released as the date of the hearing approaches.