Pot clubs could start taking names

SAN FRANCISCO — The City may soon force medical marijuana dispensaries to have on file a list of the names and addresses of those who purchase the drug as state officials crack down on pot clubs.

Medical marijuana advocates are alarmed over the proposed requirement and are working to squash the provision quietly introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom. They fear it jeopardizes the confidentiality of patients and puts them at risk for legal persecution.

“Medical cannabis dispensaries shall maintain a current record of their members, including each member’s name and address,” a provision in Newsom’s proposed bill says. The legislation introduced Sept. 16 amends The City’s existing law on medicinal marijuana clubs.

Medical marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but legal under state and city laws. These opposing laws creates an ongoing tension between medicinal marijuana providers in San Francisco and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, although The City has long embraced the pot clubs.

Newsom’s legislation came after State Attorney General Jerry Brown issued on August 25 guidelines for medicinal use of marijuana.

The guidelines include provisions such as selling to legitimate patients only and operating as nonprofits.

Brown said the guidelines were an effort to bring medical marijuana growers, dispensers and users into compliance with Prop. 215 --  passed by California voters in 1996 --  which decriminalized use of marijuana by ill patients.

Medical marijuana advocates in San Francisco were generally supportive of Brown’s guidelines, saying its sends the right message to stamp out those selling the drug for non-medicinal purposes.

However, one state guideline has raised the ire if medical marijuana users claiming The City has wrongly interpreted it. The guideline requires medical marijuana dispensaries to “maintain membership records on-site or have them reasonably available.”

Advocates say Newsom is wrongly interpreting the “maintain member records,” using that guideline to require a list of names and addresses.

Kevin Ryan, Head of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and a former U.S. Attorney, said “[The name and address provision] is a reasonable interpretation of what the attorney general is getting at,” Ryan said. “The goal is to make sure the attorney general isn’t going to be shutting down these dispensaries.”

Shona Gochenaur, the executive director of Axis of Love, a medical marijuana activist group, said she interprets “maintain membership records” differently, such as being able to show the number of members and proof they were verified as a medicinal marijuana patient. “Nobody is going to be comfortable having a list of names. [The DEA] could charge everyone on that list with conspiracy,” she said.

The clubs are constantly under threat of being raided by the DEA and this year the federal agency sent letters to landlords renting space to pot clubs warning them they could face prison time since selling of marijuana is illegal under federal law.

San Francisco has a history of sanctioning the use of medical marijuana, protecting those administering the drug and those using it. As recently as January, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution reaffirming that the City and County of San Francisco is a sanctuary for medicinal cannabis. The city is also in the process of issuing business permits to qualifying clubs, under existing regulations.

James Anthony, a Medical Cannabis Dispensary attorney, said the Ryan’s interpretation of the guidelines “potentially threatens the patients’ health privacy rights and their fifth amendment right against self incrimination.”

jsabatini@sfexaminer.com

Medical marijuana guidelines

Highlights in Attorney General Jerry Brown’s August 2008 guidelines for medical marijuana use under Proposition 215:

*Must operate as a nonprofit
*Cost of marijuana can only cover overhead costs/operating expenses
*Maintain membership records onsite or have them reasonably nearby
*verify individuals status as a qualified patient or caregiver
*provide adequate security to ensure patients safety and prevent loitering or crime

Source: Guidelines for the security and nondiversion of marijuana grown for medical use