San Francisco, CA: A San Francisco initiative (Proposition S) on this November’s electoral ballot that would encourage the Board of Supervisors to enact legislation authorizing the cultivation and distribution of medicinal pot by city officials appears to have strong public support, according to a recent poll conducted by SFGate.com.
The online poll found that 78 percent of readers favored the proposal, which was ordered on the ballot in July by San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, along with Supervisors Sophie Maxwell, Tom Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez. The Board has previously endorsed resolutions declaring the city a medical marijuana “sanctuary,” and establishing a city-run identification card system for medicinal pot patients. To date, the San Francisco Department of Health has issued more than 3,600 ID cards to medical marijuana patients.
Supervisor Leno, who is also a Democratic nominee for the state Assembly, said that he drafted the initiative in response to the Feds’ recent raids on California medicinal marijuana dispensaries. “If the federal government is going to continue to harass and shut down these clubs, then I think it’s the city’s responsibility to take action,” Leno said. “If 60 or 70 percent of the voters say ‘yes,’ the supervisors would be on very solid ground knowing that voters would be with us.”
Historically, San Francisco voters have demonstrated overwhelming support for the use of marijuana as a medicine. In 1991, 80 percent of San Francisco voters approved Proposition P making the possession, cultivation and distribution of medical pot the lowest priority for police. Seventy-eight percent of San Francisco voters backed Proposition 215, the “Medical Use of Marijuana Act” in 1996 – a larger percentage than any other California county.
If approved and implemented, San Francisco would become the first local government to establish a marijuana cultivation and distribution program. In the mid-1990s, state legislatures in Massachusetts and Washington passed laws encouraging state officials to grow medicinal marijuana for research purposes, but lawmakers later abandoned the programs after failing to secure cooperation from the federal government.
A proposed Arizona initiative (Proposition 203) seeks to establish a similar program by requiring state officials to maintain and distribute marijuana seized by police to state-qualified medicinal users.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.