|
|
|
San Francisco -- San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved a proposition that could lead to the city becoming the first in the nation to cultivate and distribute medical marijuana. Updated Nov. 6, 12:45 pm
With more than 98 percent of precincts reported, 63 percent of the votes were in favor of the proposition.
"It's a good feeling of course. This is a very important medical issue," said San Francisco County Supervisor Mark Leno.
Proposition S is a declaration of city policy, which only obliges the city to explore the option of medical marijuana cultivation and distribution. The proposition does not carry the weight of an ordinance.
Leno, who sponsored the measure, said the proposition deals with a significant social issue, and one that is in conflict with federal law.
"It made sense to me that we should ask the voters to weigh in on this," he said.
In practical terms, approval of Proposition S means the board of county supervisors will look a issues such as whether the city would contract for the growing and distribution of marijuana or do it itself, what safety and legal issues are involved and whether the city could be held liable.
In 1996, California voters approved use of medical marijuana with the passage of Proposition 215. Since then, eight other states have adopted medical marijuana policies. And in a far-reaching initiative, Nevada voters Tuesday decided marijuana, in general, should not be legalized in their state. Leno acknowledge the Nevada loss was disappointing, but said he was focused on San Francisco's strong victory.
Despite a national trend, the Drug Enforcement Agency has continued to crack down on California's cannabis clubs and distribution of the substance, illegal according to federal law. Proposition S upped the ante in defiance of federal authorities.
One staunch Proposition S supporter is Gypsy Calabrese. He said he has been HIV positive for 17 years, and for him, medical marijuana has been a godsend. HIV accelerated the arthritic condition in Calabrese's spine, leaving him with dissolved discs that will eventually paralyze his legs.
"I'm not doom and gloom. I'm a festive queen," he said, waving his perfectly manicured nails above his knitting materials. "But I'm dealing with chronic pain."
Sitting is noticeably uncomfortable for Calabrese, but as he parked himself in the lobby of the San Francisco Patients Cooperative, he explained that normal pain medications leave him too groggy to get out of bed. Marijuana, he said, "dulls the pain long enough to allow me to clean house and shop… Without it, you'd see the pain on my face."
In four-hour shifts, Calabrese volunteers at SFPC, one of nine medical cannabis clubs in the city. Together, the facilities serve more than 1,800 patients a day, SFPC director Wayne Justmann said.
Card-carrying club members represent all walks of life and all types of ailments. On Wednesday night at cooperative, the steady flow of patients ranged from businessmen and a perfectly coifed elderly woman to those who were visibly more down-and-out. They suffer from cancer, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, among other things.
City involvement wouldn't just protect the clubs that patients rely on, Calabrese said, adding that it would also protect the quality of the cannabis, because with better regulation "you'd know what you're getting, and you'd know it's trustworthy."
Opponents called the idea fiscally irresponsible and inappropriate.
Terence Faulkner, a Republican and frequent contributor to ballot pamphlet arguments, conceded that the issue is worth exploring, but remained adamant that the cost is prohibitive. He's convinced that difficulties, such as providing security and building greenhouses "so birds won't spread seeds all over the city," will keep a plan from ever developing.
"It's become a political football, and Leno is having fun with the publicity," Faulkner said. "If [the city] seriously tried to run a medical marijuana farm, there'd be no end to the problems."
Those opposing the proposal did not form a committee, nor raise any funds, Faulkner said.
The Yes on S committee raised $11,000 from two sources; $10,000 came from the Center for Policy Reform, the lobbying arm of the Drug Policy Alliance.
Gail Neira, the long-shot Republican candidate running against Leno for State Assembly, called the proposition frivolous but said she is not close-minded.
"I'm very visionary," she said. "I'm probably one of the most hip…adaptable candidates in all of San Francisco… The problem is, we are in a deficit."
Although he hadn't read the city ballot pamphlet as of Wednesday, Mark Baumann, an opera house stagehand and native San Franciscan, said, "I think medical marijuana has its place, but I don't see why the city would want to get involved."
"Where're they going to grow it?" he added in an interview near City Hall and the office of Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. "In Willie's office?"
Chris Bowman, former political director of the San Francisco Republican Party, suggested that federal law should be changed first. "If [California Senators] Feinstein and Boxer won't touch it, why should we when we don't even have the authority?"
But as he left a meeting in City Hall, Justmann of SFPC referred to last week's 9th U.S. Circuit Court ruling protecting doctors who recommend marijuana to patients.
The proposition "makes more sense now than it did when the idea originated," he said.