City Hall veteran to head new S.F. cannabis office

San Francisco has tapped a veteran City Hall aide to head its new Office of Cannabis and create a permitting process for the industry — just as the Board of Supervisors contemplates a 45-day moratorium on new dispensaries.

Nicole Elliott, who previously worked for Mayors Gavin Newsom and Ed Lee, was appointed director of the cannabis office on Monday. Elliott was in meetings all day Tuesday but expressed her excitement about her new role in a statement to The Chronicle.

She said the Office of Cannabis will allow San Francisco to bring its social credos to the commercial trade in marijuana, which becomes legal for sale throughout the state in January.

“Now we have the opportunity to regulate commercial cannabis activity in a way that fulfills many of the city’s goals,” Elliott wrote. She

said those goals include “equity and restorative justice, protecting our youth, ensuring product safety and continued access to medicinal cannabis for patients, integrating cannabis businesses into neighborhoods thoughtfully and generating revenue for the city.”

City Administrator Naomi Kelly, who appointed Elliott to the job, described her in a letter to other department heads as “uniquely qualified” to enact sensible policies and bring diversity to the sector next year.

But Elliott was silent on Supervisor Malia Cohen’s proposal to temporarily halt approvals of new dispensary permits, an idea that drew sharp criticism from former supervisor and state Sen. Scott Wiener, who said it would set a terrible example for the rest of the state.

Cohen, like Elliott, wants to create entrepreneurship programs for low-income residents and people of color, and ensure that dispensaries are spread equally among the city’s neighborhoods. She said the moratorium would give officials a chance to figure out how to do that.

The board is expected to vote on the proposal in September.