Pa. Senator Asks Unsuccessful Medical Marijuana Applicant To Retool Lawsuit
HARRISBURG, PA (CBS) -- A state senator from suburban Philadelphia and other medical marijuana advocates are asking an unsuccessful applicant not to attempt to dismantle Pennsylvania's new program in court.
Democratic Sen. Daylin Leach says lawsuits were not unexpected, but he says a suit by one unsuccessful applicant goes farther than necessary.
Leach says essentially the suit is asking a court to shut down Pennsylvania's entire medical marijuana program and start over from scratch.
"It's like, if there were somebody who was suing a hospital for some issue, and put in their prayer for relief, 'let's shut down all hospitals until we resolve all of this.' That would be nonsensical, it would be cruel, it would be heartless," he said.
Making matters worse, Leach claims, is that the lawsuit seeks to shut down the medical marijuana program statewide, not just in the region where the rejected applicant competes.
He says there are other remedies available, and that hitting the reset button on the state's medical cannabis program could deny patients access to needed treatment for years.