The council's public safety committee is considering restricting -- or even shutting -- some of the clubs. On Tuesday night, committee members rejected a proposal to close all but one of the pot clubs, delaying the issue for a month for further study.

Some members expressed concern about the concentration of clubs in an area downtown that has been dubbed "Oaksterdam" after pot-tolerant Amsterdam.

"I'm not comfortable with one but I'm not comfortable with an unlimited number, and I'm not comfortable with the concentration," said Councilwoman Jean Quan. "We have a right as a city to regulate them."

But medical marijuana patients and their advocates who packed a City Hall hearing room argued that limiting the number of clubs to one could be a death sentence.

"You're inviting the federal government to come in and shut you down," said medical cannabis supporter Chris Conrad. "You run the risk of setting up a club that will be wiped out and patients will be back on the street."

That's what happened in 1998 when Oakland designated the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to run the city's medical pot distribution program. Within two months, the federal government issued an injunction barring the group from dispensing pot.

Since then, other clubs have stepped in to fill the void, rapidly proliferating in the past two years.

City officials admit they were unaware that so many pot clubs, a number of which appear from the street to be simply cafes or coffee shops, had opened, primarily along a two-block stretch of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue near the 19th Street BART station.

While just two weeks ago the city had put the number at eight, officials now believe there are 11.

Larry Carroll, the city's administrative hearing officer, said he just received a flyer on his car for the newest club, offering a $10 discount on a $100 purchase -- despite the fact that medical marijuana users are required to have a doctor's recommendation and a city-issued ID card.

City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who backs the proposal to close all but one club, said all the current clubs violate a 1998 city law that says a medical marijuana provider must be approved by the city, as the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative was.

The law also contains numerous requirements including security, insurance, limits on hours and the amount of marijuana that can be bought, and a ban on smoking pot on site.

De La Fuente contends that at least half of the clubs are selling pot for recreational use.

The council is expected to discuss the issue in closed session Tuesday. It could be referred to a working group of city staff and medical marijuana advocates before returning to the public safety committee Oct. 28.

Mayor Jerry Brown, who has targeted the area for development of housing and a retail and entertainment district, also believes the number of clubs should be cut.

"I think there ought to be careful control of this extraordinary remedy," said Brown, who did not attend the meeting. He added that it is harder to open a bar downtown than it is a pot club.

Some supporters, however, said the concentration provides patients choice and competitive pricing, likening it to Oakland's Auto Row on Broadway.

Owners of the clubs did not address the council, saying they feared inviting federal scrutiny.

Pot club neighbors are divided over whether the activity has hurt or helped the area.

A youth organization that works with at-risk gay youth has asked the city to move it from the area.

"It has become unsafe for us to be there. We have two cannabis clubs we are sandwiched between and I smell marijuana seeping through the walls," said Tiffany Lacsado, 24, of the Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County.

But Mario Pacetti, owner of the Fat Cat Cafe -- which is not a pot club -- said the clubs have made a once-desolate area cleaner and more vibrant.

"I'm fearful my business and other businesses will struggle or fold" if the clubs are shut, he said.

E-mail Janine DeFao at jdefao@sfchronicle.com.

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