The Billion Dollar Cannabis Law Suit

I've successfully handled a few class action suits in my days so I was recently approached by someone who told me they were shopping for an attorney to represent themselves and a number of other plaintiffs in a class action suit. Can this be done? I'm going to let the audience decide. Vote win or lose to [email protected].

OVERVIEW

Here are the details, I've left some out to protect the identity of the plantiff(s). I am not under any sort of confidentiality agreement to protect their identity, but until they inform me they have selected an attorney, I'm sharing the facts.

Mary Jane (obviously not her real name) was a woman in her early 40's, diagnosed by her physician to have severe menstrual cramps despite other symptoms of oncoming menopause. Her physician told her "I don't want to prescribe any other medication for you right now, but have you ever thought of using medical marijuana? I can't prescribe it for you, but other patients have told me it has done wonders for them." They had a brief discussion about it, and Mary Jane decided to find a physician who could write the "recommendation letter" mandated by her state regulators for obtaining a medical marijuana card. Quickly scouring the web, she found one at the top of her search engine's list, it featured prices and same day service, so she called for an appointment which was granted her for early evening.

Fast forward. Mary Jane received her medical marijuana card, and discussed it on a blog she was on for women concerned about menopause. Many of them came back with great things to say, others said it didn't provide any sort of relief. There were no responses about how it made things medically worse, or brought on any more pain. Mary Jane felt that it was helping her, and despite the state's mandate that anyone who received a recommendation from a physician must be a true patient of that doctor, must have given that doctor their medical records and the doctor must have reviewed them, she never received the sort of investigatory medical examination that would have revealed that a tumor was growing in her reproductive system. The medical marijuana (remember, I'm not a doctor or any sort of health care practitioner) had been providing her relief, yet unfortunately it was only masking the symptoms. Her tumor turned into an extended death sentence.

Mary Jane's family, rightfully so, were furious about the lapse in medical care, and wanted other people to know that medical marijuana was not a panacea for any ailment, and not enough was known about it to fully understand the relief it brought to patients with different ailments and symptoms. They were also focusing their anger on the doctor who wrote the "recommendation" to the state which provided her with a medical marijuana card subject to the laws of the state she resided in. They went to his office, but surprise! He had closed up his "medical practice" and retired (apparently he rented the space under a false name and had negotiated a favorable, long term lease which he had no intention of honoring). When they contacted the state's medical registry, they were in for another horrible surprise. The supposed doctor who gave Mary Jane the recommendation was a retired physician living quietly with his wife in a senior living facility, but had faithfully sent in his annual check in honor of the noble practice that had allowed him to have a nice roof over their heads, and send his children to college and graduate without debt.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The supposed doctor had been a con man who went through the board of medicine's online registry for finding a doctor who had a license, how long they had the license, were they active, etc. He came across his victim and measured the chances of running the scam for a while without being caught, and how to accomplish it without worry. He contacted the state, found out what the letter needed to look like, and put himself in business. He had a good but short web site, and a small office with some old medical books and magazines he had obtained. He charged approximately $200 for an "exam" which essentially promised you the result you were looking for. He generally saw 4-6 patients an hour, and maintained his practice for 3 months. Assuming he worked 6 days a week....you do the math.

THE BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

The state give a license to a non-existent doctor to "recommend" a medical marijuana card. No one who had ever applied for a card in that state who had done in it on a state approved form with the proper documentation had ever been denied a card. The plaintiffs claim the state should have done some due diligence before giving a doctor the right to recommend medical marijuana. They further believe the dispensaries where they bought the product were culpable because they too had not done due diligence. Also, why did the state mail a license to a doctor with a different address then he had ever used (he was associated honorably with a hospital he served for over four decades)? To further complicate things, several of unnamed plaintiffs are estates of people who died who had been prescribed medical marijuana (do not call me out on it being marijuana - I'm only showing the fact pattern here. I know marijuana does not cause death) I am not judging the case on its merits, I want some logical opinions whether there is credibility here. Let me know your thoughts.