By Tim Redmond
So the Fire Department is worried about pot farms in the Sunset catching on fire. That’s valid — a lot of underground growers patch into the electrical grid illegally and don’t exactly follow the highest fire-safety standards. And we know the stuff burns nice.
But why does this have to be a problem? Why can’t the city simply legalize pot farms by allowing that use under city planning and building inspection codes? We already have legal nurseries in the city; I don’t think it would be a huge step to issue permits for indoor nurseries, set fire standards, require safety inspections (before the seeds are planted but after the electricity, plumbing and lights are hooked up), mandate on-site security and then take a don’t ask-don’t tell approach to the whole scene?
We’d get a better class of growers (people who operate legally don’t tend to have big caches of nasty weapons), we’d get some tax revenue — and most important, we’d be able to prevent fires. Once there was a legal way to do this, the underground operators would be forced out and the Sunset would be safe and secure once again.
Who wants to take this one on?