Massachusetts Cannabis Patients Ask to Join Lawsuit Challenging Vape Ban

Four Massachusetts medical cannabis patients are asking to join a lawsuit brought by the Vapor Technology Association against the state’s vaping ban, the State House News Service reports. The four-month ban was issued by Gov. Charlie Baker last month after 61 people in the state fell ill with the vape-linked pulmonary illness.

The lawsuit against the state – brought by the association on behalf of several retailers – argues that the ban has “shuttered and will irreparably destroy Massachusetts‘ $331 million nicotine-vapor-products industry, and the livelihoods of the 2,500 workers that it employs,” the report says.

Will Luzier, a cannabis advocate who spearheaded the 2016 campaign to legalize cannabis in the Commonwealth, is asking to join the lawsuit because the vape ban is preventing medical cannabis patients from accessing vape products they have long used for medical cannabis delivery.

“The governor’s ban was overly broad, and there’s no credible scientific evidence that licensed, regulated medical marijuana has caused vaping problems.” – Luzier, to State House News

Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health, testified on Friday that there “is no rational basis” to banning legal vaping products since federal health officials have linked the illness to counterfeit and illegal cannabis vape products. Hew said the ban was “not in the public’s best interest.”

The Vapor Association is also suing in Federal Court but a Tuesday hearing on the matter was postponed.

Attorneys for the medical cannabis patients are due back in court today and a judge is expected to rule on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, which would lift the ban as the case works through the courts.