The Cherokee Nation cannot sue opioid distributors and pharmacies in its own tribal court, a federal judge in Oklahoma said late Tuesday, halting the first attempt by a Native American tribe to recover damages for the widespread harm inflicted by prescription drugs.

While the judge said he was sympathetic to the Cherokees’ efforts to stem the deadly proliferation of opioids, his ruling only addressed whether the tribe had jurisdiction to sue. In a 25-page decision, Judge Terence Kirn concluded the lawsuit does not meet narrow Supreme Court exceptions that define when a tribe can sue nonmembers in its own court.

Since the Cherokee brought their suit in April, other tribes have begun to sue distributors and manufacturers, but in federal court.

“We absolutely believe that we had jurisdiction in tribal court,” said Chrissi Ross Nimmo, deputy attorney general for the Cherokee. “It’s disappointing that non-Indians can come into a tribal community and decimate it, and not be held to answer in that community’s court system.”