A team of attorneys will soon file a series of lawsuits to place an injunction on, and overturn Washington State’s Senate Bill 5052, a recently signed law that opponents say will drastically reduce the rights of medical cannabis patients in the state while closing dispensaries and establishing an illegal patient registry.
Signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in April, Senate Bill 5052 – which takes full effect in July 2016 – will drastically reduce the amount of cannabis patients can possess and cultivate, making felons out of those who possess currently allowable limits, according to a media release from thejointblog.com.
The group says the measure will also lead to the closure of nearly every medical cannabis dispensary in the state, and will establish an illegal patient registry that is in clear violation of federal HIPAA levels.
The lawsuits will seek to place an immediate injunction on the new law, preventing it from taking effect while the group works to overturn it permanently.
The group of attorneys who will work on the lawsuits include Sensible Washington co-founders and longtime criminal defense attorneys Douglas Hiatt and Jeffrey Steinborn, and attorney Aaron Pelley of Pelley Law LLC, among others.
Hiatt said that the group will file two to three separate lawsuits that will seek to fully dismantle the new law, in order to protect the rights that patients currently have and to prevent the state from establishing the patient database.
The group plans to make a formal announcement in the coming days.
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