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Local medical marijuana club held up
One of Berkeley’s medical marijuana clubs was robbed by two gunmen last Friday, according to Berkeley police.
Lt. Cynthia Harris, BPD spokesperson, said two men entered “The Old Brick House,” a medical marijuana club at 1672 University Ave., around 4:30 p.m.
Holding the clerks at gunpoint, the two men demanded that they turn over the club’s supply of marijuana and all the cash in the store. The clerks complied. Afterward, the suspects fled in one of the victim’s vehicles.
The suspects are described as African American males in their 20s. One of them was of heavy build, approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall, 240 pounds, with a shaved head and wearing black pants and a purple shirt. The other suspect was around the same height, of thin build, wearing a beige sweater, black pants and a mustache.
Though reported robberies at California’s medical marijuana clubs are somewhat rare, they have occurred in the past. Jeff Jones of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Co-operative said there have been a few such cases in San Francisco and Oakland in recent years.
Jones said medical marijuana clubs generally run the same risks that other businesses do, and that some vigilance is called for. (The OCBC recently lost a case in the Supreme Court where it claimed that a medical necessity defense cannot be used to fight federal marijuana charges.)
“I always tell these groups that there is a risk, and they should put some safeguards in place,” he said. “It’s not just for their own safety, though there is that – it’s also that they should be securing the medicine that their patients need.
“A lot of the facilities that I’ve visited in San Francisco and the East Bay have safes, or other ways to secure their resources.”
The people who run the “Old Brick House” club could not be reached for comment.
The business is now closed, but signs outside say it will be open again next week. It is not known whether they had a security system, or any set procedures in place in case of such an emergency.
In 1999, the San Francisco Patients’ Resource Center, another club, was held up shortly after it began operating. The thieves made off with $5,000 worth of marijuana and cash. Security personnel were stationed at the club soon after.
The SFPRC, which is located near San Francisco’s Panhandle, later became a program of the city’s St. Martin de Tours Chapel. Sister Rosemarie, a nun who works at the club, said it was robbed again last March.
She said in the wake of the recent hold-up, security at the club was tightened again.
“We already had alarms, but we increased security by firming up entrance facilities,” she said. “We also had a staff training session, where we learned how to do perimeter checks before opening doors and to exercise ‘preventative scrutiny.’”
Sister Rosemarie said the medicine’s physical availability is also limited to prevent losses, in case of another robbery.
“We have secure lockdown procedures, including safes and off-site storage,” she said.
When reached by telephone, a member of the Berkeley Cannabis Co-op, the most prominent of the Berkeley medical marijuana clubs, said that the group’s policy was not to speak to the press.
Berkeley police were unable to say whether other marijuana clubs in the city have been robbed.