It was another patient who introduced Cindy Ortiz to medical cannabis, about a year into her treatment for breast cancer. She could barely eat and had trouble gaining weight, and her hemoglobin was low enough to necessitate frequent blood transfusions as a result.
The other patient, who’d used medical cannabis to address similar issues, turned Ortiz onto her doctor, pushing the first domino for a great shift in Ortiz’ health: with cannabis, she could eat. She gained weight. The blood transfusions decreased. When she went in for surgery, she didn’t need additional pain meds outside of the hospital. After two decades of working in insurance, her career focus shifted — between treatments, in the middle of recovery — to trying to create a business that would bring medical cannabis to those in South Jersey, to help others like herself.
But a year’s worth of work, a cashed-out retirement account, and deep-seated passion were no match for a technical error in the New Jersey Department of Health portal that she and others say caused at least one of her files to be corrupted, thus nullifying her application altogether.
Cindy Ortiz's alternative treatment application was turned away due to a technical error in the New Jersey Department of Health's online submission portal in 2019.
“We put about a year’s worth of work, months, hours … and we were very diligent to make sure we followed all their guidelines. To find out that there was a technical error … couldn’t the state have said there was a technical error, and we need you to reload it,” Ortiz asked. “We would have addressed the issue at that point. We didn’t find out it was corrupt until November [after submitting in August].”
The issue with the portal created by the DOH to receive ATC license applications last summer prevented the DOH from opening files attached to certain medical cannabis business applications, which resulted in a court issuing a stay to the application evaluation process just before Christmas.