Ethan Ruby is the president and CEO of Theraplant, a company that produces and processes legal medical marijuana in Connecticut, and is president of the Connecticut Medical Cannabis Council. He became involved in debates over medical marijuana in part because, after a traffic accident left him a paraplegic, he has given testimony about the benefits he has received from his use of cannabis for control of severe pain.

Background

Ruby was a star baseball player at Moses Brown School in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, and played college baseball at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, where he played left field briefly with future major leaguer

Mark DeRosa Mark Thomas DeRosa (born February 26, 1975) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1998 to 2013. He played for the Atlanta Braves (1998–2004), Texas Rangers (2005–2006), Chicago Cubs ...

on the 1995-96 Ivy League championship team. He graduated from Penn in 1997 with a degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. On November 29, 2000, while crossing a street in New York City, Ruby was struck by a driver who ran a red light and hit another car which then struck him, severing a vertebra and leaving him with no movement below his middle chest and persistent pain in his legs. Ruby subsequently sued Budget Rent a Car with a jury awarding him $24.5 million, finding that the rental car company was liable under New York’s

vicarious liability Vicarious liability is a form of a strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law doctrine of agency, ''respondeat superior'', the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate or, in a broader sense, the res ...

law, which stated that a rental car or leasing agency could be held responsible for a driver’s

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

. The two sides settled for $20 million in 2005. The case between Ruby and the rental car company has since been cited during debate over the constitutionality of vicarious liability laws.

Medical marijuana

Ruby founded Theraplant as part of an effort to open a licensed medical marijuana production facility in Connecticut after that state legalized the medicine in 2012. In September 2014, Theraplant became the first company in Connecticut to produce medical marijuana. It is currently operating in Watertown, Connecticut, and its products are available at various dispensaries throughout the state. Ruby has also joined efforts to open similar licensed facilities in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and other states.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Ethan Brandeis University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni American chief executives Living people Moses Brown School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)