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Battling Contradictory Efforts in the Fight for Medical Cannabis

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[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]ver the summer, one of the suppliers to San Diego’s first legal cannabis collective was raided, just weeks before harvest, without cause or provocation. No arrests were made, and the stolen plants have yet to be returned.

Dr. David Blair, co-owner of A Green Alternative (AGA)  in Otay Mesa, told CULTURE that he has a simple message to the city of San Diego, “We’re doing everything to the letter and the intent of the law. Please work with us. We didn’t mess up, you did. But that’s okay. Let’s work together for a solution.” This heartfelt plea is in response to the raid on the company Grassroots, which is still growing medical-grade cannabis exclusively for AGA despite the unexpected raid in June. The plants that were taken were monetarily worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but for patients, the medicine that those plants provide, is priceless, and in many cases, even life-saving. While AGA has a dozen other suppliers, ensuring that there will never be a lack of medicine, the raid on Grassroots has left Dr. Blair justifiably upset, especially because of the litany of flimsy excuses that were given. They claimed to be checking to see if there was a drug tunnel on the premises, and then that the city needed to inspect for electrical work; and now the most recent claim is that they must relocate to an agricultural zone, which AGA’s land planner and attorneys are currently in search of. “We’re enhancing the city. We have paid more than $100,000 dollars in sales tax, to date,” proclaimed the calm, but clearly upset Dr. Blair, who seems to be caught in a “Catch 22” of sorts, between the County and the City of San Diego. When CULTURE asked Dr. Blair if he felt as if the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing when it comes to communication between the city and the county, he said, “That’s exactly the truth. The city doesn’t know what the county is doing, and the county doesn’t know what the city is doing. There is no communication.”

After being the first to successfully complete the arduous and expensive process of being granted one of the very few conditional use permits required to legally operate a medical cannabis collective in San Diego, the owners of A Green Alternative expected a smooth path, which is why Dr. Blair is so exasperated by the actions of law enforcement. “We did everything we were supposed to do. We offered even more than the city required.” The owners and dedicated staff of A Green Alternative are continuing to serve nearly 5,000 patients, with no disruption of supply. Their attorney, Lance Rogers, Senior Counsel for the Cannabis Business and Criminal Defense Divisions of Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara LLP, and one of the country’s leading authorities on cannabis law, is handling all of the legal hassles that A Green Alternative is being unfairly subjected to. As much as our leaders claim to be compassionate towards medical cannabis patients and providers, the sad truth is that their compassion fades when the news cameras stop rolling. If they really cared about the well-being of their constituents, they would ensure that raids such as the one on Grassroots, would not happen. Thankfully, the local media stepped in and reported the story. Had they not, this miscarriage of justice may never have been brought to light.

In the words of local cannabis activist, Terrie Best, “You can not legislate an entire industry and then leave them to fight rogue law enforcement that never got the memo. Hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars went into crafting and instituting regulations for medical cannabis businesses only to have it all dismantled because the police won’t cooperate? The city and county are both vulnerable to a lawsuit if they cannot rein in their own cops!”

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