The San Francisco Chronicle's Wyatt Buchanan has an article today noting that several medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco have or will shut down in response to letters that the DEA sent to their landlords, threatening the landlords with asset forfeiture and prison time. Buchanan writes:
So far, the Mason Street Dispensary in the Tenderloin district has closed completely. One of the city's older dispensaries, 194 Church St. - which last year city supervisors tried to name as a historic site - no longer sells marijuana but is still open for people to use the space to get high.
One of the best known dispensaries, the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative on Divisadero Street, will shut its doors at the end of the month after nearly 20 years, according to the Rev. Randi Webster, one of the cooperative's founders.
The owner of the building was "severely frightened" by the DEA letter, and the cooperative founders and the landlord had agreed years ago to part ways in the event of a situation like this, Webster said.
Activists will not disclose the locations of other dispensaries that have or may soon shut their doors.
Buchanan also notes that SF Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has suggested that the "city may need to consider dispensing marijuana itself at public hospitals and medical clinics," to ensure access. Meanwhile, SF Supervisor Chris Daly has introduced a resolution condemning the DEA letters, according to Buchanan.
(Above: San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Photo from Fog City Journal, photographer Luke Thomas.)
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