cannabisnews.com: Health Division Begins Hearings on Marijuana Law Health Division Begins Hearings on Marijuana Law Posted by FoM on December 06, 2001 at 10:27:32 PT By Colin Fogarty - Reporting Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting The Oregon Health Division held the first in a series of hearings today on Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Law. The 1998 initiative has come under fire since state officials found that 40% of the marijuana ID cards issued in Oregon came from one physician. The recently imposed temporary rules which are the focus of the hearing, make getting a marijuana card more diffiecult for some patients. Colin Fogarty reports. Dr. Phillip Leveque sits at a card table in a modest living room in Northeast Portland. The retired osteopath examines a stack of papers to make sure this patient has his medical marijuana application in order. Leveque: Make sure that you keep copies of it, and keep both of these application forms in your wallet. This will protect you from the local cops, OK. OK? Alright, you are all done, and now I have to do a physical exam...In the last two months, Leveque has seen more than 300 patients this way. In order to qualify, a patient must suffer from one of nine illnesses listed under the law. Those include cancer, multiple sclerosis, and glaucoma. Leveque is trying to establish a documented doctor-patient relationship with his clients. With nearly 900 applications in all, Leveque is the state’s most prolific medical advocate of marijuana. Leveque: If a patient tells me it works, and the state of Oregon says if you have one of these conditions, you can get a medial marijuana card and use marijuana, that’s enough for me.But in many cases, Leveque never actually examined the patients for whom he recommended marijuana as a treatment. As a result, the Board of Medical Examiners is looking into his work and the state Health Division issued new temporary rules requiring proof of a legitimate doctor-patient relationship. Leveque says he was trying accommodate patients who couldn’t find a physician in their area to approve their applications. Leveque: I’ve got patients in Ontario, which is at the far eastern end of the state, which is about an eight hour drive to Portland if they wanted to see me. I got them in Klamath Falls Lakeview, Bend, Prineville...literally all over the state. And most of these people are in severe medical problems. But the Oregon Health Division says that the Medical Marijuana Law requires the recommendation come from a patient’s attending physician. The state’s Public Health Officer Dr. Grant Higginson says his agency is trying to insure patients and doctors comply with the law. Higginson: And if you read the law, where it says that a primary physician must have responsibility for caring for and treatment, I think it’s saying that patients need to be getting their written statements from someone who has a real involvement in that patients care. The law was not written to allow any willing physician to provide that written statement. So that’s why we want to make sure that people are indeed complying with the intent of the law. Toward that end, the Health Division sent letters to nearly all the patients who received help from Dr. Leveque, asking them to resubmit their applications. This time, the agency required a more extensive examination by Leveque. Rick Fipps of Portland, who uses marijuana to alleviate migraine headaches, was angered by the whole ordeal. Fipps: They’re using the administration of the program to change the law. They’re change the way it was meant to be implemented, I believe when the voters put it in, by changing administrative rules that requires more documentation than was on the original bill when it was passed all that sort of thing. Back at Leveque’s makeshift clinic, a printer churns out paper work for another patient. We’re in the kitchen of marijuana activist Paul Stanford. Stanford: We need a room where they can fill out all this paper work. We need a room where they can have a physical exam. And so it just seemed to be convenient, and we’re already paying the rent here. My neighbors aren’t too thrilled about it. But it’s not more than somebody that has a Tupperware party or something like that. Down in Stanford’s basement, a small, brightly lit room holds about ten marijuana plants. Some five feet high--enough for six patients. Stanford: This is our vegetation room and the light in here stays on 24 hours. That way the plants stay in the vegetative growth cycle, like it’s the summer.In the end, most of Leveque's patients will have access to such marijuana after they resubmit their applications and receive their ID cards, allowing to them to grow their own pot. But about 75 patients withdrew their applications as a result of the new scrutiny. The Health Division has concluded its first field hearing in Bend. It will hold three more in Medford, Eugene and Portland. The agency will issue final administrative rules next month. Note: OPB Radio's news magazine airs Tuesday-Friday afternoons at 4:30 Complete Title: Health Division Begins Hearings on Medical Marijuana Law Audio Link: http://www.opb.org/nwnews/ra/orcon120401a.raNewshawk: D. Paul Stanford - http://www.crrh.org/Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting (Portland, OR)Author: Colin Fogerty reportingPublished: December 4, 2001Copyright: 2001 Oregon Public Broadcasting, Inc.Website: http://www.opb.org/Contact: audience_services opb.orgRelated Articles & Web Site: Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmMedical Marijuana Rules Get Hearingshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11364.shtmlState, Doctor Clash Over Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10722.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Dan B on December 06, 2001 at 15:02:10 PT: The Zoloft Parallel Four years ago, I went to my doctor and told him that I believed I was depressed, giving him a list of symptoms that included disrupted sleep patterns, lack of desire to eat, a generally depressed feeling, and other symptoms clearly defined in the DSM-IV. I knew the symptoms well because I had earned a B.A. in psychology and had spent two additional years pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. With no physical examination (apart from the initial temperature, blood pressure and weight measurements taken by a nurse before the doctor saw me), he put me on Zoloft. I was on that drug for nine months before I finally decided that it was dulling my senses but not fixing my problems. I weaned myself off the drug after I told my doctor that I didn't need it anymore. It took two weeks.My point? Zoloft is a drug known to produce numerous side effects, the most common of which is sexual dysfunction (even I experienced that, and I don't usually get the side effects most people get from drugs), but also liver and kidney damage and other potentially life-threatening problems. These effects are well documented; there is a huge list inside every package.Cannabis has comparatively few negative side-effects, and none of them are life-threatening. None. Yet, the government that has no problem with a doctor who hands out Zoloft at the request of a patient who understands his symptoms will, at the same time, seek criminal charges and a revoked license against a doctor who prescribes cannabis for patients who also understand their symptoms.That fact indicates a clear double standard and a violation of the doctor-patient relationship in which the doctor and patient work together to find the most appropriate therapy for the pateint's condition. Each time you walk into your doctor's office, someone else is there with you: Mr DEA. You don't see him, but he's there, hiding behind your physician's right to practice medicine. And as long as he is there, you can be sure that you will not be allowed to receive the best possible care from your doctor--not because your doctor is incapable, but because your doctor is not allowed to provide that care.There is only one way to get back your right to the best possible medical care from your doctor. Kick Mr. DEA out of the room. I am thankful for Dr. Leveque and others who understand this and are willing to put their careers on the line to insure that Mr. DEA stays out of doctor-patient decisions.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on December 06, 2001 at 12:19:51 PT What a trooper! Good to see this guy is still plugging away, undaunted by the harassment.The article didn't mention that Dr. Leveque is a World War II veteran, and that he started off doing this to help elderly veterans.... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by greenfox on December 06, 2001 at 11:53:19 PT Doctor, Doctor, DEA, Doctor... It's amazing, really. I am willing to bet that only one doctor was prescribing it becasuse the rest were (you guessed it) AFRAID! This sh*t sucks.-gf [ Post Comment ] Post Comment