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The Berkeley Patients Group, the oldest continuously operating cannabis dispensary in the country, is facing three pending lawsuits filed over the last 13 months, alleging it failed to pay a vendor, a security firm and a landlord more than $250,000 total.
Begun in 1999 as a confederation of medical marijuana advocates, Berkeley Patients Group has been celebrated by the city and expanded into sales of recreational cannabis in 2018 when California’s Adult Use Marijuana Act took effect. In recent years it’s posted sales in the tens of millions of dollars.
But since 2018, a co-owner previously told Berkeleyside, the burgeoning cannabis market has driven down both the price and quality of dispensaries’ products, although it is unclear if or to what extent that has influenced Berkeley Patients Group’s business dealings. Neither attorneys for the organization nor the same co-owner responded to inquiries for this article.
In December 2023 Event Horizon Technologies, which does business in California under the name Flow Cannabis and was a vendor for Berkeley Patients Group, filed a civil claim, alleging the group owed them $60,605 “for goods, wares, and merchandise, sold, furnished and delivered and/or for services rendered.” Berkeley Patients Group denied any outstanding debt or wrongdoing in a July 9 court filing.
In February 2024 Oakland-based ABC Security Service Inc. filed a separate suit, alleging Berkeley Patients Group had built up $73,864 in unpaid invoices, beginning in December 2022 when the dispensary “failed to pay for the security services provided by ABC,” according to the security firm’s complaint. In a response Nov. 7, Berkeley Patients Group denied all of ABC’s allegations, and also denied that ABC was “in any way injured or damaged” by the dispensary. It is unclear whether ABC and the dispensary are still in business; Richard A. Tamor, an attorney for ABC, declined to comment.
And just eight days after ABC filed suit, the owners of 1101 University Ave., a location Berkeley Patients Group said in 2020 it intended to move to, sued as well, saying the group owed them several months’ worth of rent and other costs. The company that owns the parcel, AZ DV Real Estate, accused Berkeley Patients Group of stiffing them to the tune of $127,160, allegations the group denied in an answer filed June 16.
The allegations of unpaid bills are relatively recent in Berkeley Patients Group’s quarter-century history. But the organization has faced civil action before, alleging patterns of discrimination and improper firing, allegations the organization has denied.
One of the three founding members of Berkeley Patients Group, Debby Goldsberry, sued the dispensary in 2011, alleging she had been improperly forced out the year before and that the organization had allowed “a pattern of sexual discrimination against several female employees.” That lawsuit was dismissed at Goldsberry’s request in 2012.
A former human resources manager, Ceaundra Thomas, sued Berkeley Patients Group in 2021, alleging racial and gender discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation and other misdeeds, all of which Berkeley Patients Group denied. That lawsuit settled in 2023, for undisclosed terms.
Apart from its challenges in civil court, Berkeley Patients Group, like cannabis dispensaries nationwide, operates in a legal gray area. While states have decriminalized or legalized cannabis to varying extents, the federal government still does not recognize any of its legitimate uses — and federal prosecutors have targeted dispensaries for a number of reasons.
In 2012, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag forced Berkeley Patients Group out of its previous location at 2747 San Pablo Ave. so it would be further away from several schools. She also tried, unsuccessfully, to seize the parcel into which Berkeley Patients Group moved at 2366 San Pablo Ave.
The year after Berkeley Patients Group moved it struck a deal with the state Board of Equalization to pay just $49,500 to wipe out a delinquent state tax bill of $7.5 million from the years between 2004 and 2007.
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Alex N. Gecan joined Berkeleyside in 2023 as a senior reporter covering public safety. He has covered criminal justice, courts and breaking and local news for The Middletown Press, Stamford Advocate and… More by Alex N. Gecan
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Berkeley cannabis dispensary faces 3 lawsuits claiming it hasn’t paid its bills – Berkeleyside
