San Francisco Supports 24-Hour Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
By Ann Harrison
ah@well.com
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 that permit onsite consumption be located 1,000 feet from children’s play areas. 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.
