DANA POINT SHUTS DOWN POT SHOPS

DANA POINT - In what attorneys for medical marijuana dispensaries
characterized as an aggressive move, this city closed three shops on
Monday citing building and municipal code violations.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department on Friday had executed a search
warrant at one of those shops.

The city and the dispensaries have been in an 18-month battle begun
with Dana Point's efforts first to obtain records from pot shops,
including client names, as part of a city investigation to figure out
if the facilities are operating legally. Then last year, the city sued
to shut down the dispensaries saying they're operating illegally.

Attorneys for two dispensaries closed on Monday and where the
utilities were disconnected said they were surprised by the action.

"I am shocked that the constitution can be suspended this way. They've
got some explaining to do," said attorney Jeff Schwartz for Beach
Cities Collective, adding that he planned to file suit in Orange
County Superior Court for violation of his clients' due process. "This
is the first time I've ever read the city completely bypassing the
court."

He said while the city had sent the dispensary a letter outlining
violations it did not cite the authority under which it could shut
down the place.

Alison Adams, attorney for Holistic Health, said she also expects to
sue the city.

"This is an illegal action by the city and an attempt to deprive the
people of Dana Point the benefits that the voters of the state of
California and the Legislature intended them to have," she said.

City Attorney Patrick Munoz said that the municipal code authorizes
the actions taken by the city.

"Laws that were enforced today had nothing to do with marijuana. These
are standard municipal codes that are adopted by every city in the
state," he said. "If they were selling shoes or stationary without a
certificate of occupancy, they'd be subject to the same laws that we
utilized today."

Munoz countered Schwartz's assertion that among the violations the
city had listed in notices sent earlier this month to the dispensaries
were those currently being litigated.

"These issues have not been before the courts previously," he
said.

City officials on Monday red tagged Beach Cities Collective, Holistic
Health and The Point Alternative Care, the third dispensary where
sheriff's officials executed a search warrant on Friday. Details of
the search were not immediately available.

Munoz declined to comment when asked why the city action was being
brought now since Dana Point and the dispensaries had been locked in
legal disputes for several months.

The process and questions raised in the battle between the city and
the dispensaries have gotten mired in legal quagmires and ventured
into some uncharted legal territory that has lengthened the fight.
And, the city has spent approximately $370,000 in legal costs in suits
related to medical marijuana.

In letters sent to the dispensaries from the city's community
development code enforcement division earlier this month with
contents varying depending on violations noted Dana Point gave the
dispensaries notice and deadlines to take action.

The letter to Beach Cities Collective reads that a failure to comply
by last Thursday "shall result in the ordering of the building to be
immediately vacated, posted unsafe, barricaded and utilities
disconnected."

That is the action the city took on Monday at all three dispensaries
that had remained open in town. While Beach Cities Collective didn't
have a certificate of occupancy required under state building code
Holistic Health had one but for a different use, the city attorney
said.

Among other building and municipal code violations noted to
dispensaries included those businesses not being permitted in the
zones they are in, improvements made without permits and safety issues.

Shelly White of San Clemente was in line at the Beach Cities
Collective on Monday to get marijuana for her daughter Malinda Traudt,
who was born with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and blindness. Traudt had
sued Dana Point to keep open the dispensary from which her family
obtains marijuana to manage her pain, a suit that was tossed out last
year by a Superior Court judge and is on appeal.

White said at least 10 other patients were turned away when the
dispensary was closed.

"I am devastated especially as it pertains to our lawsuit ... this is
where we get our medication," she said. "Our lawsuit was hoping to
preempt this kind of action."

"If cities could do this then why do you need all these lawsuits,"
added Schwartz, who represents Traudt. "The fundamental position is
this: everyone has a constitutional right before you can have your
life, liberty, property, any rights taken away. You have due process
which means a notice and an opportunity to be heard ... I have never
heard of a city being that aggressive."