San Francisco May Join Battle Over Pot by Growing Its Own

Frustrated by federal efforts to stymie the medicinal use of marijuana, San Francisco is considering a novel and potentially provocative new twist--growing its own pot.

A measure is headed onto the November ballot asking San Francisco voters whether the municipal government should explore cultivating and distributing cannabis to the seriously ill.

By giving marijuana use for medical reasons the city’s blessing, the Board of Supervisors hopes to ease legal pressure on patients and undercut continuing efforts by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to shut down clubs that distribute the drug.

But a move into pot farming by the city would almost certainly intensify the court fight over conflicting state and federal laws. Though use of marijuana is legal in California and seven other states if approved by a doctor, pot remains a banned drug in any circumstances under federal law.

“Yes, this does challenge federal law and the DEA,” said Mark Leno, the San Francisco supervisor who pushed the measure onto the ballot during a board meeting Monday. “It has to be done. No one should have to go on the street to find this medicine.”

The ballot measure is advisory, and would allow officials to examine the pitfalls and possibly pull back if obstacles to starting a pot distribution system seem too great.

If the city presses ahead, the federal government would almost certainly challenge it in court.

“We think it’s unfortunate the supervisors are putting this on the ballot,” said Richard Meyer, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman in San Francisco. “I just can’t see the city being in the business of growing pot.”

Some backers of medical use of marijuana say the city’s endeavor might simply be written off as an end-run by a region regarded by the Bush administration as eccentric.

“The rest of the country looks at us as the land of fruits and nuts,” said William Panzer, an Oakland attorney who has defended several patients prosecuted for using pot. “But the more that politicians are willing to stand up and say, ‘Let’s stop this insanity,’ it’s helpful.”

Gov. Gray Davis and state lawmakers have balked at stepping into the pot distribution business for patients.

Davis has also remained opposed to a push for identification cards for patients who use marijuana for medical reasons.

San Francisco, meanwhile, has unabashedly embraced the medical marijuana movement. Last year, the city declared itself a sanctuary for patients who use the drug.

Over the past two years, it has issued about 3,700 identification cards for marijuana-using patients through the health department.

The debate has been particularly intense in San Francisco because of the large number of AIDS and HIV patients in the city. Leno and other supporters of medical use of marijuana say the drug helps in easing the effects of AIDS-related wasting, the nausea of chemotherapy, as well as the discomfort of glaucoma and multiple sclerosis.