Jan 14, 2025
An early fixture in California’s cannabis history may now be fighting to survive in the state’s shrinking legal marijuana market.
Previous
Pause
Next
Rewind 10 seconds
Move forward 10 seconds
Unmute
0:25
/
0:25
Full screen
Berkeley Patients Group, which lays claim to the title of longest continually running cannabis dispensary in the country, is facing allegations of over $250,000 in unpaid debts, according to a recent report from Berkeleyside. The report cited three lawsuits filed against the historic dispensary that allege it hadn’t paid a landlord, a cannabis vendor and a security company.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
The report raises questions about the historic pot shop’s ability to survive owing that much money. Lara DeCaro, a lawyer representing the dispensary, declined to comment on the pending litigation to SFGATE other than to say that the numbers referenced in the Berkeleyside story are “wrong” and that the owners of the dispensary are doing “everything in their power to make sure BPG remains a going concern during this turbulent time.”
The three plaintiffs mentioned by Berkeleyside did not return SFGATE’s request for comment Monday.
Berkeley Patients Group was founded by cannabis advocates and medical marijuana patients who wanted a safer way to access the drug. It opened its doors in 1999 during the early days of California’s medical marijuana movement, almost two decades before selling pot became legal in the state. The dispensary’s owners put themselves in legal jeopardy by openly selling cannabis and faced several federal lawsuits aimed at shutting them down.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Across the state, cannabis stores are struggling to stay in business as California’s entire legal industry faces financial collapse. Thousands of cannabis companies have gone out of business in recent years, including companies like the retail chain MedMen, which was once valued at $3 billion.
Legacy cannabis businesses like Berkeley Patients Group have been particularly hard hit, with some of California’s oldest dispensaries beginning to disappear. Pioneering Oakland dispensary Harborside, which one cannabis advocate said was once “the most important on Earth,” went out of business last year, and the owner of the longstanding San Francisco pot shop Vapor Room told SFGATE last month that it may close because it owes the state $250,000 in unpaid taxes.
Dale Gieringer, who has been the state coordinator for cannabis reform organization NORML since 1987, said he was unaware of the allegations against Berkeley Patients Group but said the entire industry is in “really a desperate situation.”
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
“Regardless of whether that story is true or exaggerated, it’s no exaggeration to say the state of the entire industry is precarious,” Gieringer told SFGATE. “I hardly know anybody who is making any money in the industry.”
Gieringer helped write California’s seminal 1996 law Proposition 215, which permitted the medical use of marijuana in California and set off the modern legal marijuana movement. He said Berkeley Patients Group was “instrumental” in reforming cannabis laws in in the East Bay.
Berkeley Patients Group faced numerous raids during its early years, including one in 2007 that left four Berkeley city councilmembers rallying for protecting the dispensary, according to a report in the Berkeley Daily Planet. U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee gave the dispensary a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for its 25th anniversary last year.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
Gieringer said onerous regulations and competition from big businesses have pushed most of the early cannabis activists out of California’s legal industry.
“There’s only a handful of people who put money into the legal battles who are still involved in the industry,” Gieringer said.
DeCaro, the attorney for Berkeley Patients Group, said hundreds of pot shops are distressed across the state because of high taxes. The situation is “untenable,” she said, and needs to be fixed by California’s lawmakers. For now, the dispensary will keep fighting to stay alive.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
“BPG is a fighter and it does everything that it can to survive, and that’s evidenced by having doors open for over 25 years now,” DeCaro said.
Comments