The suit says that the state’s failure to get medical marijuana dispensaries running more than 18 months after a law legalizing it for medicinal use went into effect has created a hardship for patients.

The patients, who say they suffer from cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other debilitating conditions, and William Downing, who owns Reading-based Yankee Care Givers, filed a suit Thursday in the state Supreme Judicial Court alleging that state health officials have harmed patients by warning Downing to close his flourishing marijuana delivery business.

Fifteen patients and a self-described caregiver who has been selling them marijuana for medical use are seeking a court order that would allow them to resume until dispensaries are open in Massachusetts.


Without Downing’s services, the suit says, patients “are irreparably injured by being deprived of a safe, reliable supply of marijuana medicinal products in the absence of registered medical marijuana treatment centers, all to their great harm.”

A spokesman for the state Department of Public Health declined to comment on the suit.

The Department of Public Health sent letters to more than 1,300 patients and 17 caregivers in late June, warning them that state regulations prohibit any caregiver from selling marijuana to more than one patient, said a spokesman for the Health Department.

Regulators identified the caregivers and patients from letters they sent to the Health Department to register with the state, said the spokesman. Downing, who estimated that Yankee Care Givers delivered cannabis products to 1,000 patients statewide, told the Globe June 27 that he suspended service after receiving a “cease and desist” letter from the state.

Georgetown lawyer Steven S. Epstein, who filed the suit on behalf of Downing and the patients, is seeking a temporary restraining order against the Department of Public Health and Cheryl Bartlett, the public health commissioner, that would allow Yankee Care Givers to resume business without interference from state health officials. He asked the court to hold a hearing on his request by July 16. No date has been set.


The suit urges the court to rule that Downing may obtain marijuana “from any source whatsoever” and sell it to qualified patients until marijuana dispensaries “have product available.”

During an interview in May, Downing, a longtime activist for legalizing marijuana, said he obtained marijuana grown by “old hippies,” then had it tested at a local lab before selling it to medical marijuana patients.

Voters approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in November 2012. The law required the state Health Department to register up to 35 medical marijuana dispensaries within a year of Jan. 1, 2013, which was when it went into effect.

The state’s selection process has been mired in controversy with legal challenges, allegations of misrepresentations by applicants, and an admission by officials that they failed to fully vet applicants before selecting 20 for preliminary licenses last January. On June 27, the state announced that 11 of those 20 will receive preliminary licenses. However, they must pass inspections and get local approval. Most are not expected to open till next year.

State regulations allow patients with doctor-provided certificates to grow marijuana or have a caregiver cultivate it or obtain it for them, up to 10 ounces for a 60-day supply.

Whitney Grunwald of Ayer, one of 11 patients who signed affidavits that were filed with the suit, wrote that marijuana she bought from Downing was “invaluable in treating the side effects of my cancer treatments. . . . My only pain treatment option other than marijuana are opiates, the side effects of which are less tolerable than cannabis.”


Yankee Care Givers’ website, which had previously advertised various strains of cannabis for sale, now urges customers to join a class-action suit against the state.

“Yankee is paying the lawyers, and your participation will not cost you money,” the post says. “No patient will be asked to testify or appear in court unless they want to.”

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the court where the appeal was filed.

Shelley Murphy can be reached at Shelley.Murphy@globe.com. Kay Lazar can be reached at Kay.Lazar@globe.com.