BERKELEY - A medical marijuana dispensary operator has sued the city and three other dispensaries in federal and state court, alleging the defendants created an illegal monopoly that shut out competitors and drove up costs for patients.
In the federal suit filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court, Chris Smith, principal in Forty Acres Medical Marijuana Growers Collective, also accuses the defendants of racketeering, in asking the court to put an end to the city's "flagrantly unlawful actions to establish and enable the unlawful monopolization of the sale of medical marijuana in Berkeley by a few individuals operating in blatant violation of California law."
Smith also alleges that the other three dispensaries violated what was California's prohibition on for-profit medical marijuana organizations.
The three dispensaries cited in the suits are Berkeley Patients Group, Berkeley Patients Care Collective and Cannabis Buyers Club of Berkeley. Also cited as co-defendants are the Berkeley City Council and the city's Medical Cannabis Commission.
