We suppose it was only a matter of time before U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag got around to serving her latest boilerplate warning to Harborside Health Center, which bills itself as "the largest medical cannabis dispensary and holistic health center" in the Bay Area. (Or the planet if you ask these guys.) According to a spokeswoman from Harborside, Haag's office has threatened to seize the Oakland property where the dispensary has operated since 2006 along with their sister shop down in San Jose.
Employees of the two dispensaries came to work to find the notices taped to the front doors earlier this week. Unlike the closures the U.S. Attorney has forced in San Francisco, this latest one doesn't seem to be citing local regulations like acceptable distances from schools and parks. Instead, court papers filed by Haag's office on Sunday claim Harborside is violating federal law by selling medical marijuana.
No word yet on how the dispensary plans to respond to the threats of seizure. They recently switched to only taking payment from debit cards due to earlier threats from the Feds. On twitter this afternoon a representative of Harborside wrote, "We are not leaving without a fight" and "we will never abandon you."
@ngaio420 One thing you can let everyone know - we are not leaving without a fight. We are not leaving anytime soon!
— Harborside (@HHCOAK) July 11, 2012
Message to Harborside Patients: "We will never abandon you." ow.ly/cb6Ad
— Harborside (@HHCOAK) July 11, 2012
[SacBee]