clipped from: www.sfgate.com   

San Francisco would be the first city in the nation to sell and distribute medical marijuana under legislation proposed Tuesday by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

Mirkarimi, who spearheaded legislation more than three years ago to regulate the city's proliferating medical marijuana dispensaries, asked the city attorney to craft a measure that would create a pilot program for medical cannabis sales.

Federal authorities in San Francisco, who have clashed with local officials over federal prosecution of medical marijuana sellers, seemed caught off guard by the proposal. A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Agency said only that federal law has not changed, while U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said the proposal was too vague to comment on.

He noted that a municipality taking over the distribution of medical marijuana doesn't solve the problem that the drug is still illegal under U.S. law.