God bless the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. Their blog, Pushing Back, claims that there are more medical marijuana spots than Starbucks in San Francisco, adding, the "state 'medical' marijuana laws breed confusion, abuse, and violence in neighborhoods and communities." However, City Insider points out, "the map is not click-able, so you can't zoom in to determine exact addresses. Even so, there appear to be dispensaries listed in highly improbable places,......

And speaking of l'herb. Somehow, we thought San Francisco would be the first one to sport these dispensers, but LA has beat us to the punch: two marijuana vending machines will be available for use starting Monday at different locations. Yes, Mary Jane is now available via vending machine, but just how many hoops will you have to jump through to get at her? First, you must have a medical marijuana prescription. Next, you will......

Bad news cancer fighters, arthritic sufferers, and those of you who worked so hard at getting your medical marijuana ID card under false pretenses: employees who partake in the kind medical bud at home can be fired for testing positive for the drug at work. Which? Wow. In a 5 to 2 decision today, the court claims that Proposition 215, "the 1996 state initiative that allowed Californians to use marijuana for medical purposes with......

We just heart reading Two Cents to find out what people on the streets of the Bay Area think about a wide range of local, national, and international topics. The best comment of 2007, in our opinion, came from Rosey W. of Walnut Creek. The question was, "What do you want the next president to do about the federal law on marijuana use?" Rosey's reply: (Medical) marijuana use should be banned! Lives can be saved......

-- Barry Bonds: your San Francisco diva. [SFGate] -- Halloween in SF was a "a dead zone" [Examiner, SFGate] -- 19th Avenue -- now less deadly. [SFist] -- SF hotel bars. Which one is your favorite? (Hint: St. Regis) [Gridskipper] -- Ban rent control? [BeyondChon] -- Doc 420, the medical marijuana doctor. [ABC7] -- Awesome: the "SWL 337" Planning Challenge. [Curbed SF] -- Eeeeeeeeee! Can you feel it in the air? Hannah Montana has......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

Look at that fresh new picture of your 2007 San Francisco Board of Supervisors! Chris Daly even showed up this time! So what's the gang up to these days? (Besides Chris Daly; he's old news.) Here's an update: Bottom row, left to right: Michela Alioto-Pier: Giving medical marijuana stores more time to apply for permits. Bevan Dufty: Pleading with Chris Daly in vain about moving wi-fi forward. BoS Pres. Aaron Peskin: Making it more......

Today, at the Yerba Buena Gardens, officially Mark Leno kicked off his "Stick it to Carole Migden" campaign. In attendance were such notables as Phil Ting, Kamala Harris, and the Ma-ster. ...

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Those of you longing for less Newsom news, the Weekly is your place! It's an entirely Ruby Tourk-free issue (except for the first two paragraphs of Matt Smith, at which point he then changes the subject entirely to talk some more about the city golf courses). More letters about Jade-Blue Eclipse. Has Nancy Pelosi had a facelift? People upset about the increase in fees for a state medical marijuana......

-Two men found shot dead in Vallejo home after anonymous tip. -Supermarkets pull a fast one on the ban on plastic bags....

-Pelosi's in charge. -The Governator gets his inaguaral today too even if he's still laid up. ...

Because it's still Thursday in Hawaii. The last cover feature by Ann Harrison in the Bay Guardian was the kind of thing you save for a long bus ride to or from the Avenues. Ann had been covering the story of the medical marijuana movement in California for years, and in her investigation into the cycle production and eradication in the Emerald Triangle did the kind of work only a journalist with a serious......

Bill Swerboski records a recent John Brown's Body show at the Warfield, in case you missed it. Eddie Codel munch on liquid-nitrogen cooled vittles prepared by Marc Powell at Dorkbot. And Jen Maiser just got back from the Eco-Farm Conference, and links to an article by an enterprising farmer-gardener in Watts of all places. Ann Harrison and friends go to greet maligned medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby at the airport, only to find him......

The gang at SFWall.net are in full rant mode over the fact that after Ross Mirkarimi passed legislation that set certain zoning regulations for pot clubs, he is now in the process of trying to pass legislation to change the zoning regulations for one of the pot clubs that was going to be closed for not being up to snuff with the regulations. The problem in all this, of course, is that it looks a little bad to pass legislation establishing certain rules, then try and pass legislation that circumvents those rules. The club in question is the Vapor Trail on Haight which has become one of the most well known medical marijuana clubs due to it's friendly atmosphere, friendly owners, and for posting flyers up and down Haight street and other outlying areas. It's a good thing Ross is pushing this legislation through too because between the four pot clubs existing on the Haight and all the hippies roaming the streets, it's just so hard to get dope on the Haight. ...

First, a little politics. Nancy Pelosi calls for the declassification of her memo to the administration regarding secret surveillance of American citizens. Ann Harrison has an exhaustive first-person account on the recent medical marijuana dispensary raids. Executive Editor Chris Lopez softens the "Wiretap Scandal" headline at the Contra Costa Times. And Dan Gillmore is going non-profit and creating a Center for Citizen Journalism along with Cal Berkeley and Harvard, causing some to ask whither......

Anil Dash shares some timely insights into online communities. Danah Boyd finds herself caught in the middle of the debate over Wikipedia. Tom Foremsi and felow journos sup on Google sushi while their old employers crumble around them. And Jeff Nolan explores some novel theories about Yahoo's purchase of del.icio.us. Headline of the week goes to Edward Champion for "New Podjack City." Eran explores the tenuous connection between The Facebook and The Agency. Google......

After months of debate, San Francisco finally can legally go to pot (only with doctor’s approval, of course)-- we have our first ever codified marijuana dispensaries laws. Yay!!! Yesterday, the Board of Supes unamiously voted to agree to the latest version of the legislation which had been revised by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi in order to address the latest round of concerns. Included in the new rules are limiting the amount of pot each person can......

...late! Last week the Guardian left the Weekly in the dust -- and we left the Express out of it, much to the irritation of certain New Times employees. Let's see how this week shakes out, shall we? Hello, medical marijuana! SFist Jackson explained the pot supply chain to us at the Ha-Ra one Saturday afternoon, and though we like Ann Harrison just fine, we wish she'd tapped him for some (ahem) secondary research.......

After a long, raucous day of debate that lasted even longer than last night's ball game, the Board of Supervisors stared straight into the eyes of several controversial, contentious issues and decided to make a decision later. We start with everyone's favorite topic, or at least SFist's, the medicinal marijuana debate. After holding off on making a decision last week, the Board took it up yesterday and was about to pass the measure before Daly aide Bill Barnes pulled a fast one and derailed it by calling an appeal on environmental concerns. Daly is against the legislation for the fairly understandable reason that due to a lot of the new rules, most of the dispensaries that will be kept open or will be opened will be in his 'hood. He also thinks that all of the new rules and regulations are too restrictive and will lead to many of the dispensaries having to close (which would mean he wouldn't have to worry about too many of them being in his 'hood, but we digress). And by too restrictive, we're guessing he means the fact that dispensaries can only dispense half a pound of marijuana to one person a day (that would be about eight ounces of dope). That's more dope than a van full of Dead Heads on the road to the Bonnaroo Festival could smoke. Or maybe it's because it's so difficult these days to get medical marijuana cards. ...

Well, we all knew it was going to happen -- SF DA Kamala Harris is bringing charges against Maureen Faibish for felony child endangerment. As Harris said at the press conference, "We are not in the business of vilifying parents, but in this city, we are also not in the business of allowing children to be placed in situations where they are killed when it is completely preventable." Sure. Meanwhile, a girl mauled by a pit bull in Santa Rosa the other day is recovering, and an elderly man successfully fled a pit bull attack in San Jose. The SFPD has released the 911 tapes (audio) of Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White's husband's subsequently-recanted tale of spousal abuse. "My wife is JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, THE FIRE CHIEF!!! Ow! No! Don't come near me again with that pint glass!! Don't hit me again! Aaaaaaaaagh!! Did I mention my wife is JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, THE FIRE CHIEF???" And the feds indicted 19 people in the medical marijuana enforcement action, or, what they're calling "Operation Urban Harvest." Kevin Ryan, the Bay Area's US Attorney, claims that the people busted were using medical marijuana stores as a front to sell $5 million of pot to healthy people. ...

Hey, did you think that local authorities wouldn't cooperate with federal agents who are out to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries? Think again! Impassioned opinion pieces by Kamala Harris and Board of Supervisor resolutions aside, seems that Lt. Marty Halloran was putting up a police line at the Alternative Relief Co-Op so that agents from the DEA, IRS and Treasury Department could ransack their offices. From Ann Harrison's 'On the Record' blog (she says to......

Today, Gavin Newsom put a lid on places that sell lids and called for a moratorium on marijuana clubs. And we bet we're the only one's in the -ist family who'll ever have to write a story like this about their Mayor. What caused the moratorium is news that came out last week that a new marijuana club, the Holistic Center, had opened right below one of those Care Not Cash welfare hotels set up......

That's right, SFist is getting on a plane early tomorrow and will be flying deep into the heart of Texas in order to bring you wall-to-wall reporting of the internerd/hipster fest that is South by Southwest. We really, really hope all those stories of Austin being "cool" and "hip" and, mostly, "liberal" are true -- we get scared of potential conflicts with Red Staters once we pass Pinole on 80. Can they see it......

In the "it would be funny and surprising if you didn't live here" department, the Mendocino County assistant agricultural commissioner, Tony Linegar, is asking the state to regulate Marijuana cultivation so that the rules can be put in place to regulate medical marijuana crops as organic. "With no products officially developed for marijuana cultivation, some growers have been using chemicals intended for ornamental plants, which could make users sick." Mendocino County, like many Northern California......

Medical marijuana finds its way back to the Supreme Court. Man, you just can't kill that weed!...

[Ed. Note: New SFist Matt investigates medical marijuana and the man who would write you the prescription. Come to think of it, our back is a little sore today...] Got chronic pain? Leukemia? Diminished appetite? Side effects from AIDS medication? Asthma? Nausea? Glaucoma? Well, then you should probably go see a doctor. Actually, you should probably go see a couple. And while you're at it, why not visit Dr. R. Stephen Ellis? Unlike the bearded......

Hey! You! Did you just turn 18? Did you just move? Are you 20,000 loud? Are you going to vote or die? Well, here's your chance -- today's the last day to register for the November 2 election. Embrace your elderly, non-Urban-Outfitters-cool status and exercise your franchise rights! This isn't just for the presidential election, of course -- send in those forms today and you San Franciscans can start up with the ranked-choice voting, and......