The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on amending medical cannabis dispensary legislation on Tuesday, August 8th at 2pm. San Francisco passed medical cannabis collective (or 'dispensary') regulations early this year. Since then, the first collective to undergo the permitting process has been denied at several hearings. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) fears this may be the start of a trend that will ultimately lead to severe attrition of dispensaries and, by extension, safe access for the 12,000 patients who are the clients of the 30-40 dispensaries that operate in the city. This legislation is a first step in efforts to limit this attrition. The meeting will be held in the Legislative Chamber on the Second Floor of SF City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. ASA is asking for people to call Supervisors Dufty (Mission District) and Ma (Sunset District) and urge them to vote yes on this legislation, and to email ASA to say "I CALLED," so they can have an idea of how many calls were made in favor of this legislation. Agenda for the Board of Supes' Meeting

The ordinance would relax the city's new medical marijuana regulations to give pot clubs operating in residential neighborhoods since April of 2005 a grace period before they have to shut down and relocate. Last year's law established rules for where cannabis outlets can be located, how they are run and by whom restricts them to commercial and industrial areas. However, the first dispensary to test this law, the Green Cross, has been unable to win approval for its chosen new location. The legislation also addresses the definition of a recreation building, in terms of how far dispensaries can be located from them. The ordinance also would change the requirement that dispensary workers wear gloves when handling cannabis to say that they must wash their hands and use sanitary utensils when handling cannabis.

ASA Press Release | SF Gate article