The U.S. Justice Department has dropped a three-year legal fight to shut down a prominent Berkeley medical marijuana business, the latest signal that the federal government is backing away from challenging dispensaries allowed to operate under California law.
Federal prosecutors in San Francisco filed a motion Monday to dismiss their civil forfeiture case against the Berkeley Patients Group, which opened in 1999 and bills itself as the oldest medical marijuana dispensary in the country.
A lawsuit filed in May 2013 by then-U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag in San Francisco sought to seize the dispensary at 2366 San Pablo Ave. in West Berkeley, claiming it improperly operated near two preschools. City officials joined the fight against the takeover, saying Berkeley’s largest dispensary provided a major source of tax revenue.
“I just want to say it’s been a relief,” Victor Pinho, a spokesman for the Berkeley Patients Group, said Wednesday. “This case has been putting a damper on our ability to serve our patients. We are happy that it’s over.”
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the dismissal motion beyond confirming it had been filed. A judge dismissed the suit Tuesday.
The latest legal victory for the California cannabis industry follows the landmark federal government dismissal in May of its four-year attempt to shut down Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the country.
“For decades, Berkeley Patients Group has helped ensure that members of our community can access their medicine,” Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s past time for the federal government to stop standing between these patients and their medicine.”
In 2014, President Obama signed a spending bill that prohibited the Justice Department from spending money to interfere with state laws regulating the marijuana industry. That signaled a shift away federal efforts to shut down dispensaries that comply with laws such as California’s 1996 ballot measure Proposition 215, which sanctioned medical marijuana.
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Full Article: Feds Drop Effort To Shut Down Berkeley Marijuana Dispensary
Author: Michael Bodley
Contact: SFGate
Photo Credit: Carlos Avila Gonzalez
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