MJ Club in Homeless Facility Stirs Concern

Neighborhood complaints about SF's proliferation of pot clubs are
raising pressure for a moratorium on new clubs pending adoption of
regulations. - DG
http://sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/03/17/news/20050317_ne02_trouble.txt
SF Examiner March 17, 2005
City-run hotel's newest tenant troubles residents

Pot club's presence seen as harmful to former addicts

BY J.K. Dineen
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, March 17, 2005 11:58 AM PST
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As a shining light of The City's new Care Not Cash program, the
All-Star Hotel has become a welcome home for dozens of hardened
transients escaping drug-infested shelters and street corners.

So it was a shock this week when residents of the Mission District
facility, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, learned exactly
what kind of "health clinic" would be opening in a retail space
downstairs - a medical marijuana clinic.

Resident manager Robert Williams said he only learned of the pot
dispensary Friday when he smelled the telltale odor drifting up into
his office.

"The smell was overwhelming. We had no idea what was going on down
there," he said. "Some of the residents here are dealing with
addiction and that [smell] is one of the things that can trigger
relapse."

As part of the solution to hardcore homelessness, The City rents the
84-unit All-Star Hotel from owner Neal Patel and subleases it to the
Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which has a long record of turning
flophouses into managed hotels with supportive services. Under Care
Not Cash, The City has taken over 12 hotels with 800 rooms.

Neighbor Angela Sinicropi, who lives next to the All-Star, said she
was "appalled" when she learned a pot club would be opening and that
medical marijuana businesses, which are unregulated by The City, do
not require any special licenses or notification process.

Sinicropi said Patel misled her about the use, saying the newest
tenant in the building would be "a medical clinic associated with
UCSF."

Patel said he didn't mislead anyone.

"I told [the neighbors] it is going to be a medical facility, and it
is," he said.

The marijuana club, set to open March 25, will be called The Holistic
Center, according to owner Craig Walker. Walker, a carpenter who
holds a medical marijuana card to treat back pain, said the block was
"full of hookers and graffiti" and the club would help clean it up.

He said only people with city-issued medical marijuana cards would be
eligible to buy pot.

"We don't encourage drug addiction," he said.

Walker said he picked the block partly because few children live on
it and that "nine out of 10 people around here say 'right on' when we
tell them what we're doing."

But Micheal Piatakov, one of 60 residents who moved from the streets
to the hotel seven months ago, called the dispensary "a bad idea."

"Here I am trying to get back up on my feet," said Piatakov, who is
trying to get work as a truck driver. "I don't want to be exposed to
that."

Tenderloin Housing Clinic director Randy Shaw said was "looking into"
the matter.

"We can't have a use that interferes with the residential use," said
Shaw. "We don't want smoke wafting up."

Patel said he would talk to the club owners about implementing a
no-smoking rule at the club.

Department of Human Services Director Trent Rhorer said he "shared
the concerns about that sort of operation" and would look into the
situation.

E-mail: jdineen [at] examiner.com

Fire sparks debate over pot-growing safety

Blaze-prone greenhouses fuel problem
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/03/14/news/20050314_ne06_potgrowing.txt
By J.K. Dineen
Staff Writer SF Examiner
Published: Monday, March 14, 2005 12:06 PM PST
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The debate over the merits and pitfalls of medical marijuana rarely
includes an issue some public safety officials feel is among the
biggest dangers of The City's burgeoning pot industry: fires.

Wednesday, narcotics officers discovered between $200,000 and
$300,000 worth of marijuana plants at a house in the Excelsior
District after the Fire Department had extinguished a small blaze at
the Vienna Street home.

It was the seventh fire that broke out at a pot "grow" over the last
18 months, according to Capt. Tim Hettrich, who heads the San
Francisco Police Department's narcotics unit.

"Many of the grows out there we are finding because of an act of
nature," Hettrich said. "It's an extremely dangerous situation. God
forbid a next-door neighbor gets hurt in one of these."

The City has seen "an explosion of new medical marijuana clubs," with
the number tripling to 34 during the past two years, according to
city officials. Health Department records show that from 2003 to
2004, the number of patients requesting medical marijuana ID cards
doubled to more than 7,000. Medical marijuana advocate Wayne Justman
estimates that one-third of the pot sold at San Francisco clubs is
grown in The City.

Because marijuana-growing operations run 24 hours a day and are not
permitted by The City, many have shoddy electrical work and
overloaded systems. The fires are frequently ignited when black
plastic tarps, used to block out sunlight, fall onto high-intensity
grow lamps, Hettrich said.

Jason Beck, who owns a medical cannabis club on Haight Street, said
the clandestine nature of cultivation operations means that many
growers are afraid to hire professionals who could inform authorities
of the plants.

"Anybody you bring in is going to know about it, so people read books
about electricity and think they can do it themselves," he said. "The
right thing to do is hire the right kind of electrician."

The fire comes at a time when District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is
looking into regulating the medical marijuana industry. Some of the
possibilities Mirkarimi has suggested include licensing fees, zoning
requirements, safe access guidelines and consumer protections.
Currently, The City allows the clubs to operate in a black-market
limbo, free from prosecution or onerous planning hurdles.

E-mail: jdineen [at] examiner.com
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Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml [at] igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114