Popular Oakland pot shop targeted for closure

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

An Oakland medical marijuana dispensary that has been billed as the largest pot shop on the planet has been targeted for closure by federal prosecutors in Northern California, suggesting that a crackdown on the state's medical marijuana industry remains well under way.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag has threatened to seize the Oakland property where Harborside Health Center has operated since 2006, as well as its sister shop in San Jose, executive director and co-founder Steve DeAngelo said Tuesday. His employees found court papers announcing asset forfeiture proceedings against Harborside's landlords taped to the doors at the two locations on Monday.

... The court action represents an escalation in a months-long, statewide crackdown on medical marijuana by Haag, who said last year that she would try to shut dispensaries that were within 1,000 feet of schools, which Harborside isn't. Haag's office did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

DeAngelo, who was the subject of a Discovery Channel reality TV show called "Weed Wars" last year, vowed to fight the Department of Justice's attempt to put him out of business. Harborside serves about 100,000 medical marijuana users a year and pays $3 million in federal, state and local taxes annually.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Popular-Oakland-pot-shop-targeted-for-closure-3699720.php

[Woody Woodpecker]

1. I wish Obama would declare these U.S. Attornies

terminated and refuse all benefits and pensions to these a-holes.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag
U.S. Attorney John Walsh (Colorado)

These are the people that continue to threaten MMJ when it is legal in the state.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. If only that was the side he wanted to take

[frylock]

6. well you can wish in one hand, and shit in the other..

obama isn't about to do jack crap to help the MMJ community.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. It's not just Haag; it's all the California US Attorneys.

They declared a coordinated offensive last fall and they've lived up to their word.

[RKP5637]

2. This is sooo F'ed up on so many levels. n/t

[Betsy Ross]

5. There is no denying that lots of money passes through Harborside.

But the offer many free services to the collective members. It is the Wal-Mart of dispensaries; I prefer a smaller operation where the clients and staff know each other.

[Newsjock]

7. Press release from Harborside

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2012/07/11/protest-harborside-health-centers-federal-forfeiture-threat-tomorrow-at-9-am

MEDIA ALERT!
For Immediate Release:
July 11. 2012 11 AM

Thousands of Patients Threatened to Lose Safe Access
U.S. Attorney & DEA Threaten
Harborside Health Center Landlords
Property Forfeiture Filed in District Court of San Francisco
***
Invitation to Attend Press Conference
Oakland, California - Thursday July 12th at 9 AM - Location TBA
With Appearances and Statements by Patients, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, State Board of Equalization & City Officials, Union Officials, Arturo Sanchez, LEAP Officers, Rebecca Kaplan and Other Statewide Officials

July 12, 2012 — Oakland, California - The federal attack on safe access for medical cannabis patients continues. Yesterday morning, taped to the front doors of the nation’s model medical cannabis dispensary, Harborside Health Center in Oakland and San Jose, was an official 'Complaint for Forfeiture of Property.' The complaint is signed by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, Assistant U.S. Attorney Arvan Perteet, and DEA Agent David White, filed on July 6, 2012, in the District Court San Francisco Division and received by the court on Sunday, July 9. The complaint seeks forfeiture of real estate and improvements on the grounds that cannabis is being distributed on the premises, in violation of federal law.

This latest federal action to seize property flies in the face of promises made by Haag to exclusively target dispensaries less than 1000 feet from a school, and recent statements from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who stated that only those dispensaries out of compliance with state law would be subject to Federal enforcement actions. Harborside Health Center is neither close to a school, nor out of compliance with state law. The location at 1840 Embarcadero is more than 1000 feet from the closest school, and Harborside is widely recognized as the most legally compliant dispensary in the state, and renowned nationwide.

“Harborside has nothing to hide or be ashamed of," said Steve DeAngelo, Executive Director of Harborside Health Center. "We will contest the DOJ action openly and in public, and through all legal means at our disposal. We look forward to our day in court, and are confident that justice is on our side.”

Harborside Health Center employs over 100 people, and is Oakland’s second largest retail tax payer. Last year, HHC paid combined taxes in excess of $3 million, over a million dollars of which went directly to the City of Oakland. Should Harborside be forced to close:

-Our 100,000 patients will return to the illegal marketplace
-Street drug sales and law enforcement costs will both rise
-Over $3,000,000 in tax revenue will be destroyed
-Our more than 100 current employees will become jobless

“This is a policy that hurts not only those who depend on cannabis for medicine. It will destroy tax revenue, endanger patients, increase unemployment, and empower criminals. Whoever thinks this is a good idea must be smoking something a lot more powerful than cannabis,” said DeAngelo.

[NBachers]

8. I belong to Harborside. This is a horrible thing to do.

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. The black market says thanks for knocking out the competition.

[Tx4obama]

11. Kick! n/t

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. What does the DOJ think it is accomplishing?

Medical marijuana wins 70-80% support in opinion polls nationwide.

The San Francisco Bay area strongly supports the dispensary system.

Dispensaries provide thousands of jobs and much needed revenues to broke California cities and counties, in Harborside's case, more than a million bucks to the city of Oakland last year.

And it's just pot! The stuff ought to be legal, anyway.

Tell me which Democratic Party constituency is calling for this crackdown?

The feds are trying to steal people's property (asset forfeiture) and send them to federal prison for selling an herb whose distribution is legal under state law.

If Harborside shuts down, 100,000 people head for the black market.

[musiclawyer]

13. Read this case

http://www.scribd.com/doc/83279447/City-of-Lake-Forest-v-Evergreen-Holistic-Collective-No-G043909-Feb-29-2009


It's the best written, best researched case from any court of appeal in CA.
The Supreme Court is hearing it next year probably

The mistake the collectives/dispensaries have made all along is not reading the freaking statutes. If the premise of fed involvement is local zoning violations (ha ha) then the collectives should never have conceded local government right to zone, because the law says the a collective can be ANYWHERE as long sale /distribution is on site of a premise where cultivation takes place. You can cultivate in a warehouse and sell from that same warehouse!. But years ago small timers tried to get in on the action ( and still are) by trying to sell in urban buildings bereft of cultivation ( or sufficient cultivation to provide for verified patients registered as part of the collective)

This does not excuse the Feds and many local governments from being assholes. In retospect, the collectives should have paid for top notch transactional counsel at the outset rather than the criminal defense set. Hopefully the CA Supreme Court affirms the Lake Forrest case, and provides further guidance --hopefully preempting the local agencies from doing anything. Then the State legislature can get instructions to clean up the issue of where "collective" urban cultivation can take place.

More importantly, once COL and/or WA voters pass full legalization measures, the State will no longer be timid and pass a comprehensive legalization bill that includes hemp. I think CA will have will to do this within a few years once the other states go full in.