San Francisco Planning Commission Votes For 24-Hour Medical Cannabis Dispensaries

San Francisco Planning Commission Votes For 24-Hour Medical Cannabis Dispensaries

Blogged By Ann Harrison
at http://www.ontherecord.org

The San Francisco Planning Commission voted
unanimously last night to
adopt medical cannabis dispensary regulations proposed
by city
supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

The move was not surprising since Mirkarimi’s proposal
had been
endorsed by the city’s Planning Department over two
other competing
proposals put forward by supervisors Gerardo Sandoval
and Sean
Elsbernd.

But commissioners stunned patients and their
supporters by proposing
round-the-clock access to medical cannabis in San
Francisco. After an
impassioned appeal from commissioner Shelley Bradford
Bell, who
recounted how medical cannabis eased the suffering of
dying friends
and family members, the commission voted to endorse
the creation of
one 24-hour dispensary in each of the eleven city
districts.

“If someone wakes up in intense pain at 3 am, they can
get some
peace, that’s what we are dealing with,” said Bell.
“We are not
talking about drug dealers manipulating the system and
getting fake
ids, we are talking about sick people getting some
relief.”

Caren Woodson, campaign director for Americans for
Safe Access, said
Bell’s personal stories and analysis of patients’
requirements could
have a profound impact on the debate over dispensary
regulations.

“It’s so wise and shows so much foresight and
compassion,” said
Woodson. “Some of these provisions paved the way for
committee level
debate going into the supervisors with overwhelming
compassion and
set this up as a patient need not a political need.”

The need to grow enough medical cannabis to provide
for patients was
also discussed with the commissioners. Mirkarimi
himself told the
commission that he wanted to increase the proposed
plant cultivation
guidelines for San Francisco to 99 plants and 100
square feet of
plant canopy - which is in keeping with the guidelines
developed by
the Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana.

The Commission also endorsed several modifications to
Mirkarimi’s
proposal including a requirement that dispensaries be
located 1,000
feet from children’s play areas. But at the request of
the Planning
Department, the Commission discarded the requirement
in Mirkarimi’s
proposal that dispensaries be 1,000 feet from
“community centers”
because the term was too broadly defined.

Commissoners also voted to allow a 180-day window for
dispensaries to
seek permits under new city regulations. In addition,
they granted
the Planning Department an extra staffer to more
rapidly process
dispensary applications and set the hours of
dispensary operations
from 8 am to ten pm.

City planner Dan Sider said his department endorsed
Mirkarimi’s
proposal because it approached the issue as a public
health concern
and designated the city’s Department of Public Health
as the lead
permitting agency for dispensaries. But the Planning
Department also
wanted to the Commission to consider a clustering
requirement that
would have prevented dispensaries from locating within
1,000 feet of
each other – a proposal that was strongly opposed by
patients and
their allies.

“I am disappointed that the Planning Commission did
not reduce the
requirement that dispensaries be 1,000 feet from
schools down to 500
feet to allow smoking on site,” said longtime medical
cannabis
activist Mike Aldrich. “But I’m delighted that the
commissioners
decided not to recommend 1,000 feet between the
dispensaries. That
would have outlawed any place where a club already
existed and
destroyed the medical cannabis dispensary (MCD) system
in San
Francisco by reducing it to seven or eight clubs
throughout the city.”

Woodson says her analysis of zoning maps indicate that
there are a
few existing dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools
that would be
jeopardized under the Mirkarimi proposal. But she said
ASA and other
patient advocates plan to take those issues up in
committee. The
Planning Department staff also recommended that the
definition of an
“addiction treatment center” – which also requires a
1,000 foot
clearance from dispensaries - be redefined and made
clearer, said
Woodson.

Aldrich says he was pleased that the commissioners
upped the
dispensary permit application period from 90 days to
180 days. He
said this adjustment would make it easier for
dispensaries to find a
landlord, locate an area where zoning laws permit a
club, and raise
money to open a dispensary. Commissioners also aided
dispensaries by
avoiding, for the most part, requirements for
conditional use permits
that Aldrich says are difficult for dispensary
operators.

Aldrich added that one item not addressed by the
Planning Commission
was the distinction between dispensaries and medical
cannabis
cooperatives and collectives. “I wish they would have
further
addressed the definition of MCDs in the Mirkarimi
bill, but I think
that there will be a way to fix it later with the
Board of
Supervisors, at least I hope so,” said Aldrich.

While the Planning Commission rulings have only the
force of
recommendations with the city supervisors, medical
cannabis activists
were jubilant after the conclusion of the Planning
Commission meeting
late last night.

“What time is it?" Someone asked the activists who had
assembled on
the city hall steps to savor the moment. “It’s 4:20,”
shouted back
the crowd. But Woodson had the snappier comeback.
“It’s 4:20, 24-
hours,” she said.

Read additional blog items on San Francisco's cannabis
poll

http://www.ontherecord.org/mt/mt.cgi?
__mode=view&_type=entry&id=78&blog_id=1

and Ed Rosenthal's appeals hearing

http://www.ontherecord.org/mt/mt.cgi?
__mode=view&_type=entry&id=63&blog_id=1