DOCTORS UNDERMINE MARIJUANA ACT

The media furor over one Oregon physician who has provided documentation
allowing many qualified patients into the Oregon Health Division's medical
marijuana program is being misrepresented by mainstream media.

The issue goes far deeper than just Phillip Leveque, D.O. He has chosen to
put his medical license on the line out of compassion for patients who have
been shunned by their physicians, state medical organizations and now,
apparently, the Oregon Health Division.

The medical establishment in Corvallis is a case in point. There are few
physicians there willing to sign the legally required form allowing access
to the medical marijuana program for their patients with debilitating
medical conditions. Instead, doctors and medical practices have quietly
decided not to participate in the registry program, or to refer those
patients to someone who will.

This abandonment of patients undermines the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act
because the registry program remains the safest (though not only) option
for Oregon's cannabis-using patients. Instead, most Corvallis physicians
would rather prescribe dangerous and addictive pharmaceuticals.

EDWARD GLICK Registered nurse Monmouth