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PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE 1 With 43 medical marijuana dispensaries in San Franci... Page 2 of 8 marijuana for any purpose. The Drug Enforcement Administration has taken some action against clubs, but agents have not done a full-scale assault on clubs in the city. Until now, there has been no political will to address the issue on a civic level, according to San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Club owners, marijuana patients, doctors, police and city officials all say the lack of regulation and the uncontrolled growth in clubs now threatens the legitimacy of the city's medical marijuana system. All of them also support the mayor's and the Board of Supervisors' desire to begin regulating the clubs. On Monday, a Board of Supervisors committee will hold the first public hearing on club regulations. On Thursday, the mayor announced a list of regulations he wants the city to adopt. How the supervisors decide to act could set a national standard for regulation. San Francisco police say there's more pot on the city's streets now than any time during the past three decades. They complain that even gang members and drug dealers buy marijuana at the clubs and sell it on the street. There is little police can do about it. "It's part of the politics of the situation, the ambiguity ofthe laws. All that takes the focus off marijuana enforcement because it's so difficult to get a conviction," said Capt. Tim Hettrich, head of the city's vice and narcotics division. Meanwhile, Hettrich said, some doctors ask patients for little more than cash in order to give them the crucial medical recommendation, which patients take to the Department of Public Health, where they obtain city-issued medical marijuana cards. A card, which looks similar to a driver's license with photo identification, is the key for entry into the clubs. On a Wednesday evening a few weeks ago, a man in his 20s, who declined to give his name, stood near Golden Gate Park at Stanyan and Haight streets selling marijuana. When a reporter asked him which clubs in the city allow people in without medical documentation or a card, the man scoffed. "Just get a card, it's only $250," he said, recommending back pain as a viable medical complaint -- it worked for him. Doctors do not deny giving medical marijuana recommendations to gang members or other shady characters. "I try not to judge. A lot of them have gunshot wounds and knife wounds that lead to nerve damage," said Dr. Jean Talleyrand, who runs 10 clinics throughout California that specialize in medical marijuana referrals. While clubs are the most obvious targets of regulation, city supervisors say doctors who write recommendations and growers who supply the clubs also could face sanctions. In imposing rules, city officials will have to navigate the tricky territory ofregulating a federally prohibited substance. At his Haight Street shop, Jason Beck -- who is a patient as well as the club's owner -- keeps no records of what he sells or whom he sells it to, just in case federal agents drop in, he said. "You keep it all up here," he says, tapping his finger on his temple. Beck also owns a club on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi ?file=/c/a/2005/04/24/MNGDTCEA9H I.DTL&type=pr... 4/29/2005