Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jul 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Authors: Shelley Murphy and Kay Lazar

PATIENTS SUE MASSACHUSETTS FOR ACCESS TO MARIJUANA

Want Caregiver to Resume Selling

Fifteen patients and a self-described caregiver who has been selling 
them marijuana for medical use are seeking a court order that would 
allow them to resume until dispensaries are open in Massachusetts.

The patients, who say they suffer from cancer, multiple sclerosis, 
and other debilitating conditions, and William Downing, who owns 
Reading-based Yankee Care Givers, filed a suit Thursday in the state 
Supreme Judicial Court alleging that state health officials have 
harmed patients by warning Downing to close his flourishing marijuana 
delivery business.

The suit says that the state's failure to get medical marijuana 
dispensaries running more than 18 months after a law legalizing it 
for medicinal use went into effect has created a hardship for patients.

Without Downing's services, the suit says, patients "are irreparably 
injured by being deprived of a safe, reliable supply of marijuana 
medicinal products in the absence of registered medical marijuana 
treatment centers, all to their great harm."

A spokesman for the state Department of Public Health declined to 
comment on the suit.

The Department of Public Health sent letters to more than 1,300 
patients and 17 caregivers in late June, warning them that state 
regulations prohibit any caregiver from selling marijuana to more 
than one patient, said a spokesman for the Health Department.

Regulators identified the caregivers and patients from letters they 
sent to the Health Department to register with the state, said the 
spokesman. Downing, who estimated that Yankee Care Givers delivered 
cannabis products to 1,000 patients statewide, told the Globe June 27 
that he suspended service after receiving a "cease and desist" letter 
from the state.

Georgetown lawyer Steven S. Epstein, who filed the suit on behalf of 
Downing and the patients, is seeking a temporary restraining order 
against the Department of Public Health and Cheryl Bartlett, the 
public health commissioner, that would allow Yankee Care Givers to 
resume business without interference from state health officials. He 
asked the court to hold a hearing on his request by July 16. No date 
has been set.

The suit urges the court to rule that Downing may obtain marijuana 
"from any source whatsoever" and sell it to qualified patients until 
marijuana dispensaries "have product available."

During an interview in May, Downing, a longtime activist for 
legalizing marijuana, said he obtained marijuana grown by "old 
hippies," then had it tested at a local lab before selling it to 
medical marijuana patients.

Voters approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in 
November 2012. The law required the state Health Department to 
register up to 35 medical marijuana dispensaries within a year of 
Jan. 1, 2013, which was when it went into effect.

The state's selection process has been mired in controversy with 
legal challenges, allegations of misrepresentations by applicants, 
and an admission by officials that they failed to fully vet 
applicants before selecting 20 for preliminary licenses last January. 
On June 27, the state announced that 11 of those 20 will receive 
preliminary licenses. However, they must pass inspections and get 
local approval. Most are not expected to open till next year.

State regulations allow patients with doctor-provided certificates to 
grow marijuana or have a caregiver cultivate it or obtain it for 
them, up to 10 ounces for a 60-day supply.

Whitney Grunwald of Ayer, one of 11 patients who signed affidavits 
that were filed with the suit, wrote that marijuana she bought from 
Downing was "invaluable in treating the side effects of my cancer 
treatments. . . . My only pain treatment option other than marijuana 
are opiates, the side effects of which are less tolerable than cannabis."

Yankee Care Givers' website, which had previously advertised various 
strains of cannabis for sale, now urges customers to join a 
class-action suit against the state.

"Yankee is paying the lawyers, and your participation will not cost 
you money," the post says. "No patient will be asked to testify or 
appear in court unless they want to."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom