Guest Write-Up From A Concerned Citizen
Medical cannabis became legal in Maine on November 2, 1999 and expanded in 2009 after a successful referendum created a framework for dispensaries. Illinois followed Maine’s lead, passing medical cannabis in 2013. That context matters in assessing Nirav Shah’s and his record as Illinois’s Department of Public Health’s Director.
During his tenure, medical cannabis was legal in Illinois, and the law created a clear process for evaluating qualifying conditions. Instead of following the direction of the expert advisory board established by law, Shah decided that he was the final arbiter of qualifying conditions. As a result, the Court found Shah’s actions unlawful, and the elevation of his personal opinion over the law to be undemocratic Shah’s first effort to prevent access to medical cannabis involved the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An Iraq War veteran, Daniel Paul Jabs, petitioned the state to add PTSD as a qualifying condition after describing flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, and insomnia. The expert board held public hearings and unanimously recommended adding PTSD. Under the law, that recommendation went to the department director for implementation.
Shah unilaterally rejected it. The matter went to court. In a stern ruling, Cook County Judge Neil H. Cohen ordered Illinois to add PTSD to the medical cannabis list within 30 days. Judge
Cohen’s own language, as quoted by Illinois Public Media, was even sharper. He wrote that Shah “…engaged in a private investigation, hidden from public view and more importantly, hidden from the parties” and that “this process was constitutionally inappropriate”
Rather than return the issue to the department, the court ordered Illinois to add PTSD to the medical cannabis list within 30 days, explaining that further delay increased suffering as no valid basis existed for denial. The judge concluded Shah’s approach deprived the petitioner due process and conflicted with the governing rules.
Unfortunately, Shah did not lean from his mistakes. Later, the same year, another Cook County judge, Associate Judge Rita Novak, heard a case involving Shah’s denial of a petition to add migraine headaches as a qualifying condition. Again, Dr. Shah had ignored the law by conducting an investigation after the hearing had closed, further undermining notice, transparency, and public input. Associate Judge Rita Novak ordered the Public Health department to reconsider Public Health Director Shah’s denial of a petition to add migraines as a qualifying condition. Judge Novak’s ruling reinforced a consistent judicial concern: once a statute defines how evidence is gathered and evaluated, an executive official does not have authority to change that process unilaterally. Illinois’ Department of Public Health is a democracy, not Dr. Shah’s fiefdom.
The conclusion is clear: Dr. Shah opposes medical cannabis. Mainers clearly disagree with Dr. Shah on his position. The more important inference is that Dr. Shah won’t hesitate to elevate his personal opinion over the law if he finds the law inconvenient. For Mainers, if a judge smacked us down, we
would make darn sure to follow proper procedure next time out. But Shah had to be told not once, but twice, that his actions were in violation of the law.
There are many capable people running for Governor here in Maine. Disagreement is inevitable in a healthy democracy. But the record reviewed by Illinois courts illustrates a boundary that matters regardless of ideology: when courts say Shah’s actions were “constitutionally inappropriate” and contrary to law, that is a warning sign about how his power is exercised. Dr. Shah’s opposition to medical marijuana is disappointing. His decision to ignore the law is disqualifying.
This op-ed was submitted to numerous papers over the last few weeks, but no one has picked it up yet. Portland Press Herald did have a recent op-ed singing his praises, however, which makes me think this needs to be out there however it can be. Please share and inform your friends and patients. Nirav Shah is the worst possible contender to take Maine’s small craft cannabis businesses into the fray of federal rescheduling and ‘legalization”. His only mention of cannabis in any context publicly, recently, was that he see’s cannabis as an industry to add more taxes to. He would, in fact, end access for thousands of Mainers and destroy the chances of survival for the small craft growers that are left, if his record is any indication of how he would govern.
— Concerned Citizen
Sources:
Judge orders Illinois to add PTSD to medical marijuana list
Cook County judge orders Illinois to add PTSD to medical marijuana list
Judge orders Illinois to add PTSD to medical marijuana list
State director wrongly barred pot for PTSD, judge rules
Public Health Director Ordered To Rethink Medical Marijuana For Migraines