The bust signals a clear shift, with the state moving from issuing warnings for off-the-grid cannabis retailers to cracking down on operators who haven’t made efforts to comply with state licensing requirements and regulations that kicked in nine months ago, on Jan. 1. That likely includes thousands of businesses, with industry research firm New Frontier Data estimating California’s black market remains more than four times larger than the state’s legal market in 2018.

“We gave people an opportunity to come out of the shadows and to get adjusted to the new legal market,” Alex Traverso, spokesman for the Bureau of Cannabis Control, said Tuesday.

“I think it’s safe to say that any kind of unspoken grace period is over.”

The Bureau of Cannabis Control has received more than 1,000 complaints over the past nine months, Traverso said, mostly related to businesses reportedly selling marijuana without licenses.

Many of those complaints have come from businesses who’ve paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure state and local permits, cover tax bills and comply with testing requirements. Those business owners say they can’t compete with illicit shops who can undercut their prices and don’t have to comply with rules that limit hours of operation, potency of products and more. Traverso said those licensed businesses have been flooding the state with complaints in hopes of getting underground competitors shut down.

Several of those complaints were about the Church of Peace and Glory in Costa Mesa.

Despite its name, authorities say the facility that shared a parking lot with the 7-Eleven on Irvine Avenue at 17th Street did not appear to be using marijuana as part of any sort of religious service. Instead, it advertised itself on dispensary directory Weedmaps.com as a “chic recreational cannabis boutique” selling marijuana to anyone 21 and older with an ID.

While medical and recreational marijuana are now legal in California, cities get to decide if they will allow cannabis retailers and other cannabis-related businesses in their boundaries. Costa Mesa doesn’t permit marijuana stores of any kind, though it does allow cannabis distribution, manufacturing and testing labs. All cannabis businesses need local and state permits before they can begin operations.

Costa Mesa Police say Omid Delkash, 47, opened the Church of Peace and Glory in March, and that they launched an investigation of the shop two months later. Costa Mesa Code Enforcement issued two citations for an unlawful marijuana business at the site.

The Costa Mesa Police Department served a search warrant at the facility on Friday, Aug. 24, getting help from the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Division of Investigation-Cannabis Enforcement Unit. Authorities said Monday that they arrested Delkash without incident and seized an undisclosed amount of cannabis, edibles and tobacco products.

A phone number for the shop has been disconnected and no one immediately responded to an emailed request for comment on the search.

Delkash is charged with four misdemeanor counts of transporting, selling and furnishing cannabis. Charges are tied to sales that allegedly took place in May, twice in June and in July.

Those charges would have almost certainly been felonies two years ago, with Delkash then likely facing up to four years in prison. But Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana in November 2016, downgraded just about every marijuana-related crime in the state. Now, unless the district attorney pursues an enhanced sentence for repeated offenses, Delkash may face just six months in jail.

Delkash pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday. He is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail at the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana, with his first hearing set for Friday.

The Newport Beach resident has an extensive criminal history in Orange County dating back to 1996, according to court records, with prior convictions that include battery, forgery, burglary and grand theft. Such a record doesn’t automatically disqualify Delkash from getting licensed to sell marijuana in California, though the cases involving fraud and violence could be grounds for state and local authorities to deny him permits.

The Church of Peace and Glory case marks the first time Costa Mesa police have collaborated with state marijuana regulators, according to police department spokeswoman Roxi Fyad. She said the partnership gives them additional resources and investigatory tools to go after unlicensed marijuana businesses.

Since Jan. 1, the state has sent more than 2,500 cease and desist letters to marijuana businesses that appear to be operating without licenses in California, according to Traverso. Going forward, the bureau will continue to send warning notices, he said, but officials also will step up enforcement against businesses that don’t appear to making any effort to comply with state laws.

Right now, Traverso estimated Consumer Affairs’ cannabis enforcement unit is investigating between 500 and 600 complaints the bureau has forwarded their way. And he said we can expect to see more unlicensed marijuana businesses shut down “relatively soon.”

Orange County Superior Court jurors earlier this year deliberated for less than two hours before finding Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 39, guilty of kidnapping for ransom, aggravated mayhem and torture.

Handley and two friends were accused of abducting and brutally assaulting a man who they mistakenly believed had buried $1 million in the Mojave Desert.

Prosecutors allege the plot was masterminded by Hossein Nayeri, Handley’s best friend. Another friend, Ryan Kevorkian, is also accused of taking part in the abduction and torture.

According to prosecutors, the three men broke into the dispensary owner’s Newport Beach residence, tied him and his roommate’s girlfriend up and drove them to the desert, where they tortured the man with a blowtorch, severed his penis and splashed him with bleach. Police were unable to locate the missing body part.

Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown, during Friday’s sentencing hearing, read to the court a letter written by the dispensary owner describing the life-long physical and mental scars left by his ordeal.

“I live with the feeling of always looking over my shoulder, never feeling safe in any one location for any period of time and fearing for the safety of the people I care about,” the man wrote. “I fear that I will never have the feeling or sense of being comfortable and carefree anywhere ever again.”

The woman was not tortured, but testified that she thought she was going to die and is still haunted. Both were left abandoned and tied up in the desert, until she freed herself and was able to get to a highway and alert a sheriff’s sergeant.

Handley’s attorney, Robert Weinberg, unsuccessfully urged Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg L. Prickett to give his client a sentence that would allow him to at some point be eligible for parole.

Weinberg acknowledged the severity of the crime – which he described as “satanic” and “from the other side” – but noted that it wasn’t clear from the evidence what Handley’s role was. Prosecutors have said that it was likely that Handley was the driver that night.

“This isn’t mercy I’m asking for, it is justice,” the defense attorney said.

Brown described Handley’s request for a lighter sentence as “begging for mercy,” something the prosecutor noted the torture victim had been unable to do with his mouth duct-taped shut.

“The only thing cruel and unusual in this case is what these men did to these two people,” Brown told the judge. “We would ask you to impose every single last second you can.”

In handing down the maximum sentence available, the judge noted that if Handley was driving, he had every opportunity to pull over, get out of the car and run away. And if Handley wasn’t driving, he was directly involved in the torture, the judge said.

Handley did not address the court during the sentencing hearing, and showed no obvious reaction when the judge announced his sentence.

Nayeri and Kevorkian are awaiting trial, along with co-defendant Naomi Rhodus, who is accused of helping plan the attempt to find the $1 million that didn’t actually exist. Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy, who is prosecuting the case with Brown, said Rhodus and Kevorkian are cooperating with the DA’s Office.

Nayeri made headlines in 2016 when he escaped from the Orange County Jail. He was caught in San Francisco eight days later.

Now, a company formed by doctors and nurses involved in some of Israel’s pioneering cannabis research is working to open its first American clinic in Laguna Woods.

Israel-based NiaMedic is promising to offer conventional medical care alongside what company leaders describe as research-backed cannabis treatment aimed at seniors. The focus will be on the use of cannabis to handle pain management, physical rehabilitation, insomnia and other conditions linked to aging.

“Right now, it’s scary to get older,” said Alon Blatt, NiaMedic’s director of business development. “We’re showing people that there’s a better way.”

The clinic is on track to open in late August, just outside the gates to Laguna Woods Village. Though an exact location isn’t nailed down, Blatt said they already have a list of roughly 100 local seniors hoping to sign on as patients.

“I’m very enthusiastic about this,” said Shari Horne, a Laguna Woods councilwoman who occasionally relies on medical marijuana.

“I think there’s so much potential.”

Ideal population

The demographics of Laguna Woods, and the community’s progressive stance on medical marijuana, make the age-restricted town an ideal setting for NiaMedic’s first U.S. clinic, according to Blatt.

Laguna Woods is an incorporated city, but one that’s comprised almost entirely of Laguna Woods Village, a gated retirement community. Home prices are comparatively affordable, amenities are abundant and the 16,400 residents make up one of America’s oldest communities — with a median age of about 75, according to Census data.

Since cannabis has been shown to effectively treat conditions that plague people in that age range — including certain types of chronic pain, spasms and appetite problems — people over 65 are one of the fastest-growing segments of cannabis consumers in the United States.

What’s more, cannabis already has something of a toe-hold in Laguna Woods.

In 2008, Laguna Woods became the first city in Orange County to pass an ordinance allowing medical marijuana dispensaries. But a lack of viable commercial space, and pressure from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, prevented a cannabis shop from ever opening in town. And in April 2017, the council reversed its rules, voting to block all marijuana-related businesses.

But over the years, hundreds of area residents have consumed cannabis through the Laguna Woods Medical Cannabis Club, a collective founded by a resident, Lonnie Painter, and staffed by volunteer “peer guides.” Members of the club, also known as a collective, have been able to get information about how to use medical marijuana and buy lab-tested cannabis products sourced by Painter.

However, because of new state laws related to cannabis, the collective will have to get a license to sell cannabis directly, or dissolve, by the end of 2018. Since Laguna Woods’ city ordinances no longer permits marijuana sales, it looks likes the town’s Cannabis Club will be defunct in less than six months.

New options needed

Paradoxically, Proposition 64 — which this year legalized recreational cannabis sales in California — establishes some guidelines that can make life trickier for some medical consumers.

As part of the law, Californians no longer need a doctor’s recommendation to buy cannabis. And, because of that, many doctors who used to meet with “patients” and offer up medical recommendations have been shutting down their practices.

Bud and Bloom, a licensed dispensary in Santa Ana, saw this problem as an opportunity. Last year, the company started sending a bus to Laguna Woods once a month, offering regular consumers and the merely curious a free ride to consult with cannabis experts and buy product from the Bud and Bloom shop on St. Gertrude Place.

But with the Laguna Woods collective scheduled to sunset, residents with serious medical conditions are afraid that, come January, they’ll face a gap when it comes to getting reliable information and access to cannabis.

Enter NiaMedic.

The company was co-founded by Inbal Sikorin, an Israeli nurse known internationally as an advocate for using cannabis to help geriatric patients deal with age-related conditions.

Early in her career, Sikorin opposed marijuana use. But the family of a patient in a nursing home outside Tel Aviv asked if Sikorin would consider using cannabis to help their mom, who was in constant pain and relied on a feeding tube. Sikorin said marijuana transformed that patient, and others in her care, and she quickly became a leading researcher on using cannabis to treat dementia, pain and other conditions. Her work has drawn interest from celebrity medical types such as TV host Montel Williams and neurosurgeon Dr. Sunjay Gupta.

Sikorin and partners launched NiaMedic two years ago as a way to bridge the gap between the mainstream medical world and the exploding cannabis industry. In Israel, two NiaMedic clinics have treated roughly 800 patients whose average age was 78.

While the hub for medical marijuana research remains Israel, Blatt notes the biggest market for cannabis is in the United States. So NiaMedic has set up its U.S. headquarters in West Hollywood and selected Laguna Woods for its first local facility.

Councilwoman Horne, among others, believes cannabis can help ease some forms of chronic pain and, therefore, could help ease the opioid epidemic that’s plaguing Laguna Woods and other U.S. communities.

“It’s not for everyone, or every medical condition,” Horne said of cannabis. But she added that she regularly hears from hears from residents who say cannabis works as an opioid substitute.

Without much regulated cannabis research in the United States, and with few doctors willing to offer advice on the drug’s potential uses, U.S. cannabis patients typically are left to experiment when it comes to products and doses. But Horne said one element of the NiaMedic model — a database with information from thousands of people treated by Sikorin and others — could be particularly helpful as a guide for local patients trying to sort out which type of cannabis to use for a particular condition.

Patients at the Laguna Woods clinic also will add to that research, since Blatt said they’ll monitor — without names — how treatment methods stack up against results.

How the clinic will work

NiaMedic will be staffed by doctors and nurses who focus on geriatrics, pain management, neurology, psychiatry and physical rehabilitation. While the clinic will cater to Laguna Woods seniors, Blatt said they’ll treat patients of any age, from any location. And cannabis will be “just one tool” in a broader toolbox.

A typical first visit will cost $350. Though that’s not currently covered by insurance (Blatt says they’re hoping to change that), the fee covers a full health assessment, a lengthy consultation, treatment planning and a month of routine monitoring.

Patients also can chose to become NiaMedic members. They’ll then pay $100 a month and $150 for each visit.

The fees won’t include the cannabis. Just as traditional medical clinics use pharmacies to dispense opioids or antibiotics, NiaMedic won’t sell cannabis directly to patients. Instead, Blatt said they’re developing partnerships with cannabis cultivators and manufacturers, and with area dispensaries, so they can send patients to stores that carry what they deem to be appropriate cannabis products.

While the company is developing the standalone clinic in Laguna Woods, Blatt said NiaMedic nurses trained in using cannabis to treat elderly patients will be placed Los Angeles area clinics. The company also plans to host  educational seminars for patients and medical professionals, and to develop software that will suggest the best cannabis products and doses to treat different conditions.

The vision is big. But Blatt, a former investment banker, said it’s all aimed at helping seniors.

“The medical world has focused so much on prolonging life,” he said. “We want to improve the quality of that life.”

La Palma might be small, but its citizens were loud and clear Tuesday night: They don’t want their city to become what one resident described as “the pot capital of northwest Orange County.”

Citizens overflowed the City Council Chambers, some having to sit in an adjoining room, to oppose changing city laws to allow some cannabis-related businesses. Many residents learned of the meeting from flyers left on their doorsteps, calling them to the meeting to voice their opinions.

Council members said they heard the residents’ opinions and agreed to not pursue changes to La Palma’s current ban on the commercial cultivation, warehousing, delivery, testing and sale of marijuana in town.

If the city later needs a new source of revenue the conversation could be revisited, Mayor Gerard Goedhart said at the end of the meeting, but it is off the table for now. Council members were clear they weren’t interested in dispensaries.

“The public paid me to teach kids to say no to drugs. I can see a teacher in 2019 trying to teach kids to say no to drugs and a kid says, ‘Well, wait. La Palma makes drugs,’” Jeanne Culver, a resident and long-time teacher, said. “What kind of message are we telling our children?”

Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and La Habra are the only Orange County cities to allow any marijuana-related businesses, Santa Ana is the only allowing dispensaries.

Residents also asked the City Council that if the issue comes back up to put the decision to voters on a ballot, instead of having the elected leaders make the call.

“Why would you do something that runs against the people of La Palma?” Carlos Alcaino asked council members, referencing the 57 percent of La Palma voters who opposed Proposition 64. “We said in 2016 that we didn’t want it.”

City Manager Laurie Murray said the discussion came about as a “business decision” to diversify city revenues and protect La Palma’s financial stability in the event another major tax provider leaves the city. La Palma residents approved a 1 cent sales tax increase after facing a $772,000 budget deficit in 2016. Estimates were marijuana-related businesses could net the city “anywhere from $500,000 to 1.2 million” annually in revenue.

Murray added staff members also broached the question because there seemed to be a “paradigm shift” in opinion regarding cannabis, referencing the recent approval by the Food and Drug Administration of a cannabis-based drug treatment for epilepsy and recommendations to the Drug Enforcement Agency to declassify marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug in response.

“Right now, we’re not ready,” Goedhart said. “The controversy isn’t something we need right now.”