Health & Fitness
Update: Marijuana Club Arson Suspects Still At Large
The arsonists who fire bombed Capitola Healing Association, Inc. ("CHAI") have not been captured. Please visit www.cannabishealers.org for more information.
My name is David Thompson. I am a California attorney and the founder of www.cannabishealers.org. I represent the Capitola Healing Association, a Soquel-based cannabis dispensary that was on May 1, 2011.
Through this blog, I will be keeping you up-to-date on issues and news related to our cause in the community and county.
As of Tuesday, May 10, 2011, the arsonists who threw a Molotov cocktail into the lobby of Capitola Healing Association, Inc. (“CHAI”) at 2:30am on May 1, 2011, have not been captured.
Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The video footage from the security cameras showed two hooded individuals breaking the glass door with a hammer before throwing a highly-flammable incendiary device into the building, which quickly set the lobby ablaze. The owners arrived on the scene within minutes, but the entire lobby was already engulfed in flame.
One owner ran into the fire to obtain the fire extinguisher, only to learn that it had melted. Had the owners not remembered that the neighboring commercial space had a garden hose, which they used to put out the fire, the entire warehouse could have burned down before the fire department arrived.
Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
This type of crime is out of character for the cannabis industry, especially in Santa Cruz where people are used to expressing their opinion through appropriate channels … by writing their elected officials, attending meetings, and/or contacting law enforcement, etc.
Two days after the firebombing (and just one week after the San Jose City Council voted to reduce the number of dispensaries within San Jose from 125+ to 10), the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance to responsibly regulate the cannabis industry within the unincorporated county. As a testament to their focus on patient access, the Supervisors did not let the Santa Cruz firebombing or San Jose turmoil influence their vote.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department is actively investigating the matter. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Department at (831) 454-2414. People can contribute to the $10,000 reward, or otherwise help CHAI, by contacting Cannabis Healing Association at (831) 480-7112 or www.cannabishealers.org.
Regards,
David Thompson, Esq.
