The one S.F. neighborhood where pot dispensaries aren’t welcome

A couple walks past La Boulange Cafe on 9th Avenue in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset. Despite strong support for medical marijuana in California, one area of the state’s weed-friendliest city has no marijuana dispensary: the Sunset District. less A couple walks past La Boulange Cafe on 9th Avenue in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset. Despite strong support for medical marijuana in California, one area of the state’s weed-friendliest city has no ... more Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close The one S.F. neighborhood where pot dispensaries aren’t welcome 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

It doesn’t take a bloodhound to pick up a whiff of weed just about anywhere in San Francisco, where a Chronicle analysis found more medical marijuana ID cards have been issued than in any city in the state in the past six years.

Yet, even with California voters expected to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana next year and polls showing strong support for medical marijuana, one area of the state’s weed-friendliest city bucks the trend: the Sunset District.

The Asian American enclave is one of the last affordable places in San Francisco to open a small business — as long as that business isn’t a dispensary. Even though dispensaries have boomed in neighborhoods with similar retail corridors since medical cannabis was legalized two decades ago, they’ve never pierced the Sunset fog. A knot of neighbors and community activists are currently beating back three more applicants who want to set up shop there to handle the city’s booming demand.

“We are one voice on this,” said Florence Kong, a Sunset resident and a past president of the Asian American Contractors Association. “It is a cultural issue and a neighborhood issue.”

And one that Kong and her allies are winning.

“Their batting average is 100 percent in the Sunset — that’s pretty impressive,” said David Lee, who teaches political science at San Francisco State University and is executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee.

Lee, who said he does not have a position on the issue, said opposition in the Sunset is rooted in traditional Chinese attitudes toward illegal drugs and the fact that the neighborhood boasts more families and homeowners than other parts of San Francisco.

“It’s an outlier,” Lee said. Even though the neighborhood may not be known for its grassroots activism, he said its vociferous pushback on marijuana “goes to issues around family. A lot of Chinese families revolve around their children and their education. A lot of families perceive that a medical marijuana facility might be a negative influence on their children.”

The opposition

With 28 operating dispensaries in San Francisco — most of them downtown or in the Outer Mission District — Sunset activists say there are more than enough places to acquire marijuana.

But there’s also clear demand: Since 2009, roughly 20 percent of all California medical marijuana ID cards have been issued to San Francisco residents (enrollment in the program is voluntary, so it does not reflect the total number of medical marijuana users).

During the same time frame, San Francisco County had more cardholders per capita than anywhere else in the state: 1,075 for every 100,000 residents. That’s 18 times more than in Los Angeles County and 32 times more than in Sacramento.

A report last year on medical cannabis dispensaries by San Francisco’s Planning Commission found that dispensary advocates “lament that there aren’t enough places to open, especially in the northern and western parts of the city.” A study found that nearly half of the city’s residents have to travel 3 or more miles to the dispensary of their choice. That can be difficult for patients who might have to travel an hour each way on public transportation to secure their medicine, the report found.

Delivery issues

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Medical marijuana delivery services — which are booming — can be helpful. But the city’s report found that some medical marijuana patients live in “government assisted housing or SROs where antidrug policies are strictly enforced.” Other patients prefer to visit a dispensary so they can choose their own strain or get a consultation from a budtender.

And while some neighbors may complain about crime associated with dispensaries, the report found that “it does not appear that that (dispensaries) have a negative impact on crime or community safety.”

Dispensary owners looking to accommodate San Francisco’s demand by setting up shop in the sleepier parts of the Sunset District have slammed into neighborhood opposition.

Greg Schoepp wanted to open a dispensary called the Bay Area Compassion Health Care Center in an 800-square-foot former chiropractor’s office at 2139 Taraval St. Cannabis wouldn’t be cultivated there, and on-site smoking or vaporizing would not be permitted.

Photo: John King / John King A couple walks past La Boulange Cafe on 9th Avenue in San...

But in May, opponents wearing pink badges saying “No more MCDs” (medical cannabis dispensaries) packed a Planning Commission meeting to oppose Schoepp’s proposed dispensary. They were among the activists who successfully lobbied City Hall to require dispensaries to obtain a conditional use permit — a tougher hurdle to clear — before opening in the Sunset’s business districts. Other neighborhoods don’t have that requirement.

The commission voted against granting Schoepp a conditional use permit. Schoepp declined to comment.

“This is a bedroom community. We don’t want that here,” said Josephine Zhao, a 46-year-old mother of two and an organizer of antimarijuana forces for the past few years. “I have no interest in touching or smelling or smoking any drugs — marijuana included.”

Zhao said much of the opposition in the Sunset, particularly among older residents, is rooted in how China views narcotics. She pointed to the arrest last August in China of Jaycee Chan, the son of martial arts movie star Jackie Chan, who was a prominent anti-drug spokesman in the country.

Arrests in China

The younger Chan was jailed after he tested positive for marijuana and police found more than 100 grams of weed (roughly 3.5 ounces) in his possession. Initial reports predicted that Chan, caught up in a nationwide crackdown, could spend three years in prison or possibly be executed, but he was released after six months. As of November, 10,000 people had been arrested on drug charges in China, nearly double the total from the previous year.

In the U.S., Zhao said it is a constant struggle to push back against a media culture that glamourizes marijuana use.

Plus, it is often hard to organize her neighbors.

“That’s just Chinese culture,” Zhao said. “We just have our heads down. ‘Don’t protest. Just mind your own business, if you speak up about what you want, people will target you and make your life hell.’”

And even though herbs have been used medicinally in Chinese culture for thousands of years, Zhao and other opponents believe cannabis is different.

Test upcoming

Those attitudes may be tested next year when marijuana legalization probably will be on the ballot in California. There are little polling data on Chinese American attitudes toward marijuana, but Ben Tulchin, a San Francisco pollster who has surveyed voters on the issue frequently, said younger U.S.-born Chinese Americans “tend to be like their non-Chinese American peers on social issues like this” — which means generally more liberal.

“I don’t expect them to be wildly enthusiastic about it,” Tulchin said. “But I don’t expect them to be hard core against it, either.”

Peter Wong, a Sunset resident who has worked with Zhao in opposing dispensaries, knows public opinion is increasingly supportive of marijuana.

“I’m probably fighting a losing battle,” Wong said. “But I maintain each neighborhood has a right to say no to (dispensaries). The patients who need it here are already being served.

Joe Garofoli and Joaquin Palomino are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com, jpalomino@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli, @joaquinpalomino