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.
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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.
Read more
