The forfeiture proceedings are believed to be the first in California since the four U.S. Attorneys announced a statewide crackdown on the medical marijuana industry on Oct. 7, according to San Francisco attorney Matt Kumin,
who is representing Shaw in a lawsuit filed against Haag. The lawsuit seeks a restraining order on the Justice Department's closing of dispensaries, and argues that the federal government gave the okay to medical cannabis in California in a 2010 settlement of a lawsuit brought by a Santa Cruz collective.
Marin Alliance is California's oldest continuously operating dispensary, located in Fairfax since 1996. Shaw, a medical cannabis patient who is not accused of breaking any state or local laws, is drawing sympathy in the town, where the council and mayor passed a resolution in support of her dispensary.
