San Francisco’s pioneering medical marijuana dispensary licensing program is undergoing record expansion in 2016, with at least nine new permits pending approval.

SF’s First Medical Marijuana Don?

San Francisco has a new ‘Don of Marijuana’, according to Chris Roberts at the SF Examiner/ Weekly.

Politically connected former Fire Commissioner Donald Carmignani is now technically the San Francisco medical marijuana industry’s biggest landlord.

Carmignani charges upwards of $1 million in upfront fees, and $7,000 to $10,000 per month in rent to medical cannabis deliverers hoping to occupy a first-of-its-kind pot delivery hub at 214 California Street in the Financial District, reports indicate. The Don has 16 spots to lease, seven of which are spoken for, and in the city’s permitting process.

San Francisco has about two dozen licensed dispensaries — and is regarded as a global model for safe, affordable, broad access to medical marijuana.

“This means that Carmignani, a multi-generation San Franciscan from the Marina District, has the distinction of being the city’s biggest medical marijuana landlord,” Roberts writes.

A true SF gambit, the high fees and rents should help Carmignani recoup the cost of buying the building in 2011, and holding onto it for four years, through two defaults, while the delivery hub got city permits.

Carmignani has ties to former mayor and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newson, as well as to Mayor Ed Lee, reports indicate. Lt. Gov. Newsom’s Plumpjack venture leased restaurant space from Carmignani’s father, Roberts reports.

Mayor Lee appointed Carmignani to the Fire Commission in 2013, a position he from which he resigned, after an arrest that concluded with him pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence charges, resulting in the sentence of a fine, probation, counseling, and the surrender of several guns.

Leading Castro District dispensary The Apothecarium Plans Move

Leading Castro District dispensary The Apothecarium is hoping to quadruple in size with a relocation a half-block down Market Street by July. The Apothecarium’s proposal goes before a public hearing at the Planning Commission on April 21, operators said Tuesday.

The 35,000 member-Apothecarium has 15 employees and just one bathroom in its small, high-end boutique at 2095 Market St. The stock room doubles as office space, and at peak work hours, staffers are elbow to elbow in the alcoves.

“It gets pretty warm in here,” said Ryan Hudson, Apothecarium co-founder and executive director. “We’re really space-constrained.”

The Apothecarium intends to take over a former Chinese food restaurant that’s about 5,000 square-feet, more than quadruple their current 1,200 square-foot spot. The club would add an on-site events space, as well as vastly more space for administration, and a second bathroom.

Known for its posh, neo-Victorian aesthetic, The Apothecarium said its new spot would keep the mixed-use condo’s modern, minimal facade, and add a more contemporary interior. The plan must cost a fortune — it included leasing the huge new space for more than a year while the permitting process took place.

“The Castro is our home and we are delighted we have found a new, larger space so close by — no easy feat in San Francisco’s current real estate market,” stated Hudson. “We want to assure patients who depend on us for safe, lab-­tested medicine, that we will be continue to operate in the Castro. Our new location will allow us room to hire more patient consultants to better serve patients in a modern, comfortable space.”

The family-owned and operated Apothecarium stands out as an international model for safe, professional access to medical cannabis.

The dispensary hosts meetings with physicians from healthcare providers in the region.

The club has hosted city, county, and staff officials and physicians from California and Nevada on fact-finding tours. The City of San Francisco officially celebrates Apothecarium Day every October 1, and the club’s operators and staff are directors in numerous neighborhood and merchant groups as well as the city’s cannabis task force.

The club doesn’t have “cashiers” or “budtenders”, but rather “patient associates” guiding Castro’s residents. Tuesday, during the afternoon lunch rush, members snapped up products like lab-tested tinctures for insomnia. Large, light-backed desktop magnifying glasses help connoisseurs assay top-shelf flowers like True OG, Fire OG, Girl Scout Cookies, Platinum Cookies, Durban, Jack Herer and XJ-13.

Medical Marijuana arrives in the Marina, Financial District

The Apothecarium is also at work on a second location — in the posh Marina District of San Francisco — a first for that neighborhood. The club also placed first in points in a contentious bidding process to open the City of Berkeley’s fourth dispensary this year.

The Apothecarium hosts a community open house at its proposed new location at 2029 Market Street on Thursday, March 17, and expects a lot of support at their April hearing.

The Apothecarium has donated over $300,000 to Castro community philanthropies like Castro/Eureka Valley Foundation, Equality California, Larkin St. Youth Center, PAWS (Pets are Wonderful Support), SF Pride, SF Aids Foundation, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, AIDS Emergency Fund, Rooms that Rock4Chemo, and Maitri Compassionate Care.

Scott Weiner, San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member f​or District 8, stated, “The Castro has long been supportive of medical marijuana. When Prop 215 passed, legalizing medical cannabis, the measure received more than 91% support in the Castro and Upper Market. I expect the Apothecarium’s move to a new location will be met with broad community support.”

Jeff Bryant, a home­owner who lives directly above the proposed location​, stated in a release, “For four years, The Apothecarium has been a considerate, quiet neighbor down the street. I’m glad they are filling the empty storefront in my building. I’d much rather have a quiet dispensary here than a noisy bar or restaurant.”