Otherside Farms

Otherside Farms Cannabis Information Center was opened around 2010 by a Newport Beach couple, Alysha and Chadd McKeen, hoping their new "medical marijuana information center" would help dissolve stigmas associated with cannabis.[1]

I want to tell people to stop being afraid of it," Chadd McKeen, co-founder of Otherside Farms, told the Daily Pilot. We want to bring it out into the open.[1]

The McKeens had a personal incentive to teach people about the benefits of cannabis, as Alysha had gone through cancer with the help of the plant.[4] City officials approved the location to be legal as long as cannabis was not distributed there.[1]

In late August 2011, Otherside Farms opened a private collective, maintaining it as a separate entity from Otherside Farms.[2] On January 17, 2012, the private collective was raided by federal officials.[5] Controversy ensued over the raid, as city officials had secretly authorized a letter seeking federal law enforcement assistance in shutting down the collective, which an expert claimed was illegal.[6] The basis for the raid was an accusation by a city inspector claiming that Chadd McKeen hoped to profit from his business.[7] McKeen denied the accusation, stating that his words were misconstrued, and that Otherside Farms had been trying to communicate a plan to help resolve the Cosa Mesa budget deficit[8] that had been present since 2010, only for meeting requests to be turned down by city officials.[4]