Judge Orders Pot License

A state District Court judge has ordered the New Mexico Department of Health to issue a medical cannabis producer’s license to a Santa Fe nonprofit business once new licenses become available.

But Mark Springer, founder of Medical Marijuana Inc. might still face an uphill battle.

Springer originally applied to legally grow and dispense medical pot more than five years ago. While nearly 100 other license applications were rejected, Springer and three other nonprofit groups were informed by then-Health Secretary Catherine Torres that their applications had met the department’s criteria and were approved, but that they would not be issued licenses because market capacity had been met by 23 other producers.

Over the next three years, while the Health Department approved new medical conditions and registered thousands of new patients, it opted not to issue new licenses. As the demand for cannabis increased, producer inventories dwindled, and patients often went weeks without fresh supplies. Producers reported selling out days after harvest.

Last February, Springer filed suit in District Court to request a judge order the state to issue new licenses after a patient survey in October 2013 confirmed the chronic cannabis shortages.

During court proceedings Springer testified that former Medical Cannabis Program Manager Dominick Zurlo assured him he would be the next applicant to be licensed, but current Health Secretary Retta Ward insisted that Springer’s application was no longer pending and had been denied.

But Springer’s attorney Brian Egolf argued that Torres' letter was binding and that Medical Marijuana had never received a denial letter.

In October, District Court Judge Jennifer Attrep denied Springer’s request, but three months later, on Dec. 17, Attrep determined that the Health Department must allow Springer to update his original application and ordered the program managers to issue him a license if he still meets the department’s check list of requirements.

A spokesman for the department says program managers have reviewed Attrep’s order, but insist that Springer will still have to go through its graded application process before being issued a license.

“The judge’s order could not have been any clearer,” says Egolf, adding that Springer is gratified that “the justice system worked.”

The judge’s order does not appear to apply to the three other previously approved producers. Egolf believes they’ll have to go to court to get a similar order.