click to enlarge BPG

This is what success looks like.

The Bay Area is no doubt the birthplace of medical marijuana in the United States, though weed-related bragging rights have migrated east a bit.San Francisco had the first cannabis club in the country — well before voters approved Prop. 215, the first medical marijuana law, in 1996. But Oakland now has, by reputation, the biggest. And Berkeley boasts the oldest. Berkeley Patients Group is laying claim to the oldest continuously operating legal marijuana store in the land. The San Pablo Avenue dispensary turns 15 on Friday, which makes it at least five years older than any San Francisco pot club we can name. How do you survive so long in an emerging, somewhat-legal industry (especially when the federal Justice Department has been actively trying to close you down for three years)? Luck, sure. But also timing, support from politicians, and a really good lawyer.In 1999, when AIDS patient Jim McClelland started BPG, very few of the regulations medical marijuana dispensaries must abide by now were not in place. This led to scenes like the ones you see on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, where dozens of clubs sold marijuana.Politicians were quick to quash that enterprise, but it was obvious that the industry was huge. In 2007, a Hayward dispensary run by a pair of brothers sold over $27 million worth of cannabis in six months . That led to its closing at the hands of the feds, which in turn created opportunity for others to step up and fill the void.McClelland died in 2000. Under the control of his three successors, two of who are still with the club, BPG got big fast, thanks to Berkeley's regulatory scheme put in place by City Council members and elected officials who were steadfast in their support for legal weed sales despite federal prohibition.For years, only three dispensaries were allowed in that city. Oakland also capped their club limits at four. Meanwhile, cities and towns in the greater Bay Area had very few or no dispensaries. This meant that the clubs that did have permits served demand from all over the Bay Area. Fueled by this, BPG became one of Northern California's biggest marijuana power players.It's worth noting that a major medical marijuana advocacy force sprung forth from BPG: in 2002, the group's founders formed Americans for Safe Access, which lobbies lawmakers in Congress and in Sacramento. All that weed money has got to go somewhere (since, after all, California cannabis clubs must be nonprofit collectives or cooperatives).Not that it's been easy or simple. The feds seized their bank account in 2007, and the state gave BPG a $6.5 million bill for back taxes in 2011 (medical marijuana isn't taxed like medicine).That same year, the Justice Department began cracking down on dispensaries, closing hundreds of California pot clubs. In 2012, the feds began trying to seize BPG's buildings. BPG closed down shop only to reopen a little later at its current digs. The feds are currently trying to seize that, too, but the forfeiture action is at this moment locked up in pre-trial motions.So that's how you do it. That's something to celebrate.Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates will be there for the birthday celebration, grooving to some jazz music at 4 p.m., as will local U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee. You're invited to swing by and to pick up a Ben Marlow limited-edition print, created by Thomas Wojak of Vallejo.