A longtime cannabis activist in Hawaii has filed suit in U.S. District Court in an attempt to stop state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries from opening later this year.
The suit is the brainchild of activist Mike Ruggles, who also faces criminal charges for illegally selling cannabis through a now-defunct MMJ collective, West Hawaii Today reported. Ruggles’ suit argues that the dispensary system violates federal law, and should therefore be overturned.
“Next year, no more caregivers. Year after that, patients won’t be able to grow at all,” Ruggles told the news outlet. “They’re trying to make money off of the backs of sick and poor people.”
Ruggles ran the Alternative Pain Management Puuhonua LLC until law enforcement raided his operation last September and charged him with a number of narcotics crimes.
