Medical Marijuana Cardholder Suing Nevada for Fruad

A Nevada medical marijuana cardholder has brought a federal class action lawsuit against Nevada, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the governor.

The cardholder claims that Nevada was requiring Nevadans to get certified for a medical marijuana card yet forced them to buy marijuana from the black market because dispensaries weren’t open. He claims this constitutes as fraud, unjust enrichment, unequal taxation and violation of equal protections.

Nevada “engaged in fraud by collecting fees and issuing registration cards when they had not licensed nor had they planned on licensing dispensaries during the time covered by the cards,” stated the cardholder. He further noted that aside from growing one’s own marijuana, the state provided no way for patients to get marijuana other than “from the local street corner drug dealer,” until 2013, when it enacted laws to license and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

The first Nevada dispensary, Silver State Relief, recently opened outside of Reno and is limiting cardholders to less than 1 oz. purchases due to limited supply.

Nevada is nearing 10,000 medical marijuana cardholders and the state has reciprocity with other states that issue medical marijuana cards.