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."
Source: OC Register
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