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Kristi Shaw is the vice chair of the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine. She has been a medical cannabis patient since 2002 and a medical cannabis caregiver since 2016.
Medical cannabis became legal in Maine on Nov. 2, 1999. The program was
further expanded in 2009 when voters passed a referendum to create a legal system for dispensaries. Illinois followed Maine’s lead, passing medical cannabis in 2013.
That context matters in assessing the public record of Nirav Shah, previous director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. During his tenure, medical cannabis was legal in Illinois, and the law created a clear process for evaluating qualifying conditions. Instead of following the direction of the expert advisory board established by law, Shah decided in some cases that he was the final arbiter of qualifying conditions. As a result, courts found Shah’s actions unlawful, and the elevation of his personal opinion over the law to be undemocratic.
Shah’s first effort to prevent access to medical cannabis involved the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). An Iraq War veteran, Daniel Paul Jabs, petitioned the state to add PTSD as a qualifying condition after describing flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, and insomnia. The expert board held public hearings and unanimously recommended adding PTSD. Under the law, that recommendation went to the department director for implementation.
Shah unilaterally rejected it. The matter went to court.
In a stern ruling, Cook County Judge Neil H. Cohen ordered Illinois to add PTSD to the medical cannabis list within 30 days. Judge Cohen’s own language was sharp. He wrote that Shah “engaged in a private investigation, hidden from public view and more importantly, hidden from the parties” and that “this process was constitutionally inappropriate.”
Rather than return the issue to the department, the court ordered Illinois to add PTSD to the
medical cannabis list within 30 days, explaining that further delay increased suffering as no valid basis existed for denial. The judge concluded Shah’s approach deprived the petitioner
due process and conflicted with the governing rules.
Unfortunately, Shah apparently did not learn from his mistakes. Later, the same year, another Cook County judge, Associate Judge Rita Novak, heard a case involving Shah’s denial of a petition to add migraine headaches as a qualifying condition. Again, Shah had ignored the law by conducting an investigation after the hearing had closed, further undermining notice, transparency, and public input, the judge said.
Associate Judge Rita Novak ordered the Public Health department to reconsider Public Health Director Shah’s denial of a petition to add migraines as a qualifying condition. Judge Novak’s ruling reinforced a consistent judicial concern: Once a statute defines how evidence is gathered and evaluated, an executive official does not have authority to change that process unilaterally. Illinois’ Department of Public Health is a democracy, not Shah’s fiefdom.
The conclusion seems clear to me: Shah opposes medical cannabis. Mainers clearly disagree with Shah on his position.
The more important inference I see is that Shah apparently won’t hesitate to elevate his personal opinion over the law. Shah had to be told not once, but twice, that his actions were in violation of the law.
There are many capable people running for governor here in Maine. Disagreement is inevitable in a healthy democracy. But the record reviewed by Illinois courts illustrates a boundary that matters regardless of ideology: When courts say Shah’s actions were “constitutionally inappropriate” and contrary to law, that is a warning sign about how his power is exercised.
Dr. Shah’s apparent opposition to medical marijuana is disappointing. His decision to ignore the law is disqualifying to me.
