MMJ Doctor - San Francisco

In 2016, California voters legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Since then, San Francisco has been assembling a task force to propose rules and regulations for the marijuana industry, which address everything from drug testing to where marijuana dispensaries can be located.

“In 2016, with legalization a real possibility, the city may finally take a different tack. Under legislation authored by Supervisor Scott Wiener, the city has set up and seated a legalization task force.” – SF Weekly

Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer survivors, business owners, and medical cannabis club operators were among the 48 applicants applying for the 14 seats on the newly created Cannabis State Legalization Task Force. They will advise the Board of Supervisors for San Francisco County on regulating the cannabis industry and keep up to date with weed laws in California.

The Rules Committee for the Board of Supervisors selected 13 people to serve on the task force under one – year terms. The full board is expected to approve the renewal or induction of new task force members by August 31 of every year. The task force held its first meeting in January 2017.

Members of the Board of Supervisors have faced several complaints from residents when marijuana dispensaries opened under existing San Francisco city law and cannabis regulations. Current marijuana rules restrict cannabis businesses to a selected area of San Francisco, which is known as the “Green Zone” and has since resulted in clustering. There are several places in San Francisco where patients need medical marijuana dispensaries.

Today, there are 28 marijuana dispensaries operating in San Francisco today with more on the way.

Scott Wiener, a supervisor who created the cannabis task force, has stressed the importance of establishing “smart local regulation” to prevent a “fire drill” after recreational marijuana is legalized. Wiener along with the two other supervisors – John Avalos and Malia Cohen – voted on the approval of the applicants.

Green Cross founder Kevin Reed said legalization would “severely” impact San Francisco neighborhoods with existing marijuana clubs.

“We need more cannabis clubs in San Francisco to handle legalization,” Reed told the Rules Committee.

Reed believes that San Francisco should open up areas for marijuana dispensaries in the Bayview or Marina areas of the city. He also offered to eliminate the restrictions that require marijuana dispensaries to only be on the first floor of buildings.

“You have an entire Financial District of tall buildings that you can open up,” explained Reed.

Tom McElroy, architect and San Francisco Duboce Triangle resident, picked to serve on the cannabis task force. McElroy aims to hold regular neighborhood meetings in the hopes of gaining acceptance for medical marijuana.

“I believe everyone should have access to the cannabis industry,” said McElroy. “Education is a big part of this task force and changing people’s minds about marijuana.”

Other applicants expressed a need to control the feel and look of marijuana dispensaries.

“It would be preferable not to have large cannabis billboards clustered around the airport and large signs outside of businesses,” said Jesse Stout, an attorney who serves on the Cannabis State Legalization Task Force.

Drug Policy Alliance member Laura Thomas considers marijuana legalization an opportunity to create a strong job market, and San Francisco should focus its efforts on job training. Thomas is assisting the task force on examining the idea of expected tax revenues for businesses.

According to The ArcView Group, a marijuana investment and research firm, legal medical marijuana sales have increased 74 percent from 2008 to 2016 to $2.7 billion. Analysts have projected revenue growth for cannabis to surpass the National Football League by 2020, which is currently worth approximately $2.3 billion, per Forbes magazine.

“We’re going to have a lot more cannabis users, we’re going to need to spread it out.”– Erich Pearson, the founder of SPARK

Using and cultivating medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law, but 28 states including California allow marijuana for medical purposes.

Recently, recreational marijuana has been legalized in California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Massachusetts, Main, and Nevada.