Media Report: The Berkeley Patients Group dispensary the oldest continuously running in the US, faces 3 lawsuits claiming it hasn’t paid its bills

Berkeleyside reports

The Berkeley Patients Group has been sued by a vendor, a security firm and a landlord saying they’ve been stiffed more than $250,000. The dispensary has denied any debts.

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.

Read the full report at 

Berkeley cannabis dispensary faces 3 lawsuits claiming it hasn’t paid its bills

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