Judge denies cancer patient’s lawsuit against state over medical marijuana access by Amy Biolchini
A federal judge has denied a lawsuit brought by a cancer patient against the state of Michigan over her access to medical marijuana.
The Thursday ruling means the supply chain of medical marijuana to licensed provisioning centers remains unchanged.
Sherry Hoover, a 57-year-old retired nurse from Rochester, sued the state in June in an attempt to re-open the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to licensed provisioning centers.
Living with severe pain from treatments for a rare form of leukemia, Hoover uses medical marijuana -- specifically Rick Simpson Oil -- to help her through her experimental treatments.
Cancer patient sues Michigan over access to medical marijuana
A Rochester woman lost access to her medicine as a result of state action. Her federal court suit seeks to re-open the caregiver market.
In her lawsuit, Hoover said she's been unable to find that product in provisioning centers since May, after a Medical Marihuana Licensing Board resolution took effect that ended the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to provisioning centers.
Hoover's lawyer, Michelle Donovan, said the state has violated Hoover’s due process rights. The lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order on that board resolution to temporarily reintroduce caregiver marijuana back into the regulated market until the end of the year.
Thursday, July 18, U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Paul Borman denied the motion for a temporary restraining order.
Borman said in a 16-page opinion that his court lacked the jurisdiction to rule on the case because "the Complaint fails to allege a colorable federal question," and because the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is immune from a lawsuit under the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"Because Plaintiff has no likelihood of success on the merits of her claims because the Defendant LARA is a state agency entitled to absolute Eleventh Amendment immunity, the Court must and does DENY the motion for preliminary injunctive relief," Borman wrote in the conclusion of his opinion.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs filed a motion June 28 asking Borman to dismiss the case. Borman has not yet ruled on that motion but is expected to soon.
Marijuana grown by caregivers has supplied the launch of the regulated medical marijuana market in Michigan while newly licensed growers have cultivated their first crops.
State regulators allowed the direct sale of caregiver marijuana to licensed provisioning centers for months. Though there was no legal mechanism for the sale, state officials promised not to punish the businesses that sourced their product from caregivers. That practice ended in May.
Some provisioning centers claim that the licensed growers that they now have to source all of their inventory from aren’t yet producing the specialized oils that medical marijuana patients like Hoover need.
Without medical marijuana oil, Hoover said she’s in severe pain.
“My whole system feels like my bones are being twisted,” Hoover said in a June press conference. “If I get back on the medication, it takes all that away. I don’t want to go back to the Norco; the fentanyl.”