Gun buyback program funded by pot club

A photo provided by the Oakland POlice Department shows weapons taken off the streets in a buy-back program in Oakland and San Francisco, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The program resulted in hundreds of guns taken off the streets, according to Oakland Police Officer Johnna Watson. Watson said Oakland officers collected 300 guns while San Francisco police collected 290 guns during Saturday's holiday gun buyback program. Watson said the guns collected by Oakland police included handguns, a fully automatic assault pistol, shotguns, rifles, and a rifle with a bayonet attached to it. (AP Photo/Oakland Police Department) less A photo provided by the Oakland POlice Department shows weapons taken off the streets in a buy-back program in Oakland and San Francisco, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The program resulted in hundreds of ... more Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Gun buyback program funded by pot club 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It turns out that last weekend's big Oakland-San Francisco gun buyback - which took more than 600 firearms off the streets - was bankrolled in large part by a $100,000 donation from a medical pot club.

"It's part of the philosophy we practice called capitalism with a conscience," said Keith Stephenson, the low-key executive director of Oakland's Purple Heart Patient Center.

The unique blending of pot and policing began one afternoon outside Oakland police headquarters a few weeks back when Stephenson bumped into Capt. Ersie Joyner.

"He said he wanted to make a contribution to the community for the holidays," Joyner said.

The usual suggestions, such as food and toy drives, didn't interest him much. "I wanted to do more than buy a few turkeys for the holidays," Stephenson said.

Noting that the holidays also usually mean an increase in armed robberies, Stephenson suggested a gun buyback.

Joyner worked the idea up the police ladder, but it quickly became clear that the cops could not be directly involved with anything having to do with pot - medicinal or not.

So the idea was hatched to run the buyback through Oakland's Youth UpRising and San Francisco's Omega Boys Club - with the cops coming on board only to help keep an eye on things and to dispose of the guns.

Stephenson, 44, a former airline mechanic who turned to marijuana to help deal with his arthritis, put up $50,000 cash. The plan was to pay $200 per gun, no questions asked.

No sooner did the twin events get under way Dec. 15 - one day after the Connecticut elementary school massacre - than it became clear the cash was going fast.

"The cars were stretched longer than the fan line to a Raiders game," Joyner said.

A call was to made to Stephenson, and within 45 minutes another $50,000 arrived.

Stephenson isn't overly worried that his actions will attract the attention of the feds, who appear bent on driving pot clubs out of business.

"I just felt the public needed to know that medical marijuana can have benefits besides just paying taxes," Stephenson said. "Hopefully, this might spread to a national buyback day."

Power appoint: In what appears to be a nod to both consumers and renewable-energy fans, Gov. Jerry Brown has tagged Carla Peterman to replace Timothy Simon on the California Public Utilities Commission.

Simon was viewed as a friend of the utilities - and also a friend of Chronicle columnist and former Mayor Willie Brown. Peterman, on the other hand, is a former board member of The Utility Reform Network, which has often crossed swords with the commission.

It's the second time the governor has picked a commissioner from the ranks of TURN. The first was Mike Florio, a lawyer for the group.

Not that it always goes the consumers' way. Florio, for example, angered his old allies last week when he backed a deal to stick customers with two-thirds of the cost of fixing PG&E's neglected gas system.

"I think what everyone wants to see is truly independent commissioners who are not beholden to any special interests," said TURN spokeswoman Mindy Spatt.

Even their own.

In the news: No sooner did his critics launch a petition drive urging embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to resign than the sheriff fired back with the department's first "e-newsletter."

Volume One featured a personal message from Mirkarimi in which he reflects that personal hardships pale as we think of the unimaginable losses endured in Newtown, Conn.

"All I wanted to do was hug my son - and yet on the same day, emergency dispatch reminds us that here in San Francisco, gun violence befalls distressed neighborhoods and the youth who live there."

To that end, Mirkarimi says, he'll be announcing a number of initiatives in the new year.

For updates, all readers have to do is "take a moment to subscribe" by clicking on the newsletter's link.

In treatment: A UCSF-affiliated orthopedic surgeon is facing misconduct charges before the California Medical Board over a torrid affair he allegedly had with one of his hip-replacement patients.

He even made a house call to London, where she and her family had moved during the two-year affair.

It all unraveled a few months back, according to the complaint filed by the Medical Board, when the doctor was meeting with his pelvic patient and "accidentally called his wife on his cell phone."

Exactly what happened next isn't clear from the report, but the wife must have heard more than she wanted - because the affair abruptly ended and the doctor's wife is now his ex.

UCSF declined to comment, citing doctor confidentiality. But it did confirm that the surgeon still has his hospital privileges - even as he faces sexual and professional misconduct charges.

California medical licensing records, by the way, show that of the eight doctors disciplined for sexual misconduct last year, just one lost his license.