Dana Point’s tactics amount to unconstitutional intimidation

By Jeff Schwartz

The black SUV pulled up, its illegally-dark tinted windows obscuring everything inside. I walked across the street toward it and, just as I arrived, the passenger window slid down to reveal Dana Point’s city attorney and at least two officers.

When I asked what they were doing there, the driver said they were just eating a burrito (which he was). I told the city attorney that I’d heard they had shut down another collective. He replied that he wasn’t there to share information. So, I told them to enjoy their burritos and walked back to the Beach Cities Collective.

A few minutes later, another vehicle pulled up and four Sheriff’s deputies, dressed in camo, guns strapped to their thighs, got out. I approached the sergeant in charge, introduced myself as the Collective’s legal counsel and asked if I could help them. The sergeant replied that he had no issue with me or my client and was just there to ensure that everything stayed peaceful.

Then, two San Diego Gas & Electric service trucks arrived. The utility’s technicians, accompanied by the deputies, went to the electric panel and removed the Collective’s electric meter, shutting off its power. Concerned that the situation might get out of hand and that someone might get hurt or killed, I instructed the Collective’s employees and patients not to interfere.

Was this a big drug raid? Had the Collective been illegally dispensing marijuana? No. All of this firepower and intimidation was over minor, unpermitted building improvements and the Collective’s failure to have a Certificate of Occupancy (Dana Point’s version of a business license). It didn’t stop there.

Next, the deputies walked past a blind, cerebral palsy patient and her mother who were there for medicine, and entered the Collective without permission. I asked for a warrant. They didn’t have one. How about a court order? Nope, but they had plenty of guns. The deputies ordered all of us to leave or be arrested (although for what violation they didn’t bother to explain). They allowed us to gather some computers and other items then red-tagged the door as unsafe to enter.

We carried the items across the street to another location that the Collective had previously rented, but had not been used to dispense medical marijuana. A building inspector tried to enter with us, to look for building code violations to justify closing this location, too, but we blocked her. The confrontation became tense when a co-owner of the Collective got into a heated argument with the inspector. Fortunately, the sergeant and I calmed things down. No weapons were drawn and no one was arrested. But, the blind, cerebral palsy patient was unable to obtain her medicine, as were other obviously ill patients who had to be turned away.

A couple hours later, as the Collective was preparing to open the second location to serve its members, the building inspector returned and notified the Collective that it had to vacate this location, too, although the notice failed to state even a single building code violation; only that the Collective lacked a Certificate of Occupancy and that dispensing medical marijuana violated zoning laws. A Sheriff’s deputy threatened to return in 30 minutes and arrest everyone still inside—as before, without a warrant or court order. The Collective complied and was forced to leave its members without access to their needed medicine. This created a serious problem for local medical marijuana patients because Dana Point used similar illegal thuggery to close the other two local dispensaries.

Is this legal? No. First it’s a violation of the Collective’s due process rights under both the state and U.S. Constitutions. Second, it’s an illegal use of force and an abuse of power. Third—and most interesting—Dana Point filed a lawsuit a year ago seeking to shut the Collective down. But the court hasn’t given them permission to do so.

In effect, Dana Point says, “Who needs pesky courts and annoying Constitutional rights? We have guns.” Welcome to the future of dispensary litigation.

Attorney Jeff Schwartz can be reached at (888) 7300-LAW or jeff@Schwartz4Law.com.