Update: Union City Pot Club "Closed Until Further Notice"

Updated 12:50 p.m.

A medical marijuana dispensary originally slated to open Friday morning is “closed until further notice,” according to an employee.

The Green Cross Care Center was supposed to hold its grand opening at 11 a.m. However, city officials had told Patch Thursday the dispensary did not have a proper license to operate in Union City.

Police officers attempted to conduct code enforcement at the center, located at 34695 Alvarado-Niles Road, but the cannabis club was not open. Officers on scene said a small crowd had gathered in anticipation of its opening but had dispersed by 11:45 a.m.

Green Cross Care Center secretary Angela Caruzo would not comment on whether the city’s legal enforcement had caused the indefinite delay of its operations. Business owners declined an interview with Patch.

The center is a nonprofit medical marijuana collective association that touts itself as providing “compassionate services and the highest quality medical cannabis at very reasonable prices,” according to the weedmaps.com website.

According the dispensary’s Facebook page, the collective was to raffle off two “mega huge burrito size” joints and offer new patients a free eighth of an ounce of weed in honor of its grand opening.

Word of the Green Cross Care Center’s opening was news to Economic and Community Development Director Joan Malloy, who said her department did not — and would not — approve any permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in Union City.

“We don’t allow any use that is not consistent with state and federal law, and cannabis clubs are a clear violation of federal law,” Malloy said.

She said that several dispensaries have tried to apply for business permits in the past, but none have succeeded.

“The code is really clear,” said Ben Horner of the Union City Police Department. “We’ve never had any trouble with [medical marijuana dispensaries]. They usually just move to another city.”

If Green Cross Care Center does eventually open, it would become the second medical marijuana dispensary to open in the Tri-Cities in the past five months. The other, known as Happy Wellness Center, is located in Newark.

Pot Clubs in Newark Also Not Welcomed By City Leaders

The city of Newark has been clear about its opposition to medical marijuana dispensaries since the North Bay Dispensary (NBD) Cannabis Collective opened at 7180 Thornton Ave. in Newark in 2009.

NBD but only after endless controversy and two years of several lawsuits.

NBD’s closure came six months after state and local authorities raided the dispensary as part of a criminal investigation headed by the Southern Alameda County Crimes Task Force and state Department of Justice.

Five individuals associated with the collective are as a part of what state Department of Justice officials have called an illegal operation. All five and are due back in court for a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 19.

Attorneys representing NBD, have maintained the dispensary was not operating illegally and is a nonprofit collective.

Still, NBD’s presence put pressure on the city of Newark to re-evaluate its city ordinance that prohibited businesses and nonprofit organizations that are not compliant with state and federal law.

As a result, Newark’s City Council in October and November that prohibit the establishment and operation of medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits.

That prohibition came after a second pot club known as the Happy Wellness Center, opened in Newark. The collective, which still operates at 7200 Jarvis Ave., opened on Aug. 31.

Authorities , which operates under Alpha Rising Inc., on Dec. 14 as part of the criminal investigation against the collective and its affiliates. 

More than $40,000, about 20 pounds of processed marijuana and firearms were . A manager was also arrested but no charges have yet been filed, said Attorney Scot Candell, who represents Alpha Rising, Inc.

Happy Wellness Center .

Alpha Rising Inc. is also involved in two civil litigations with Newark.

City officials have sued Alpha Rising, Inc. in hopes to be granted a court-issued injunction that would authorize the closure of the collective. And Candell said the collective has sued the city of Newark because city officials denied the dispensary a business license in mid-August before it opened.

"We're doing everything to be compliant with state and local laws,” Candell has said. "The city is not allowed under law to deny [Alpha Rising] a business license,” Candell said. 

Candell added Thursday afternoon that cannabis collectives are allowed to operate under state law.

Attorneys have said that cannabis collectives are allowed to distribute medicinal marijuana under Proposition 215, known as the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, and Senate Bill 420.

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