USERS QUESTION LEGALITY OF MARIJUANA POLICY

PORTLAND - Medical marijuana users and the American Civil Liberties Union
on Monday questioned the legality of new state guidelines for patients who
want to use the drug for certain illnesses.

Protesters gathered in front of the Oregon Department of Human Services
said the state's latest attempt to review 800 patients' medical records
violates doctor-patient confidentiality and unfairly targets one physician.
They also say the law has forced sick people to wait months for medicine
that could alleviate their suffering.

Dr. Phillip Leveque has signed more applications for medical marijuana than
any other doctor under Oregon's 2-year-old medical marijuana law - about
935, or 40 percent of the 2,351 that have been approved. He has signed off
on marijuana applications after reviewing faxed medical records or talking
to patients by phone.

In response to Leveque's practices, the state Board of Medical Examiners on
Aug. 10 said doctors who sign the applications must maintain up-to-date
medical files on each patient, perform a physical exam and create a
treatment plan.

The DHS asked the Molalla physician for medical records to verify Leveque
had done so for his 801 patients. Leveque refused, saying that would
violate doctor-patient confidentiality.

Now, the DHS is asking Leveque's patients to waive their privacy rights
directly.

Patients who refuse will not be approved for medical marijuana, said Dr.
Grant Higginson, a DHS state health officer. About 900 of Leveque's
patients who are already approved for the program will not have to provide
their medical records, he said.

David Fidanque, spokesman for the Oregon ACLU, said his organization is
researching the legality of the state's latest move, but has not decided on
a course of action.

Fidanque said a state review of patient records could jeopardize doctors
that signed off on the marijuana applications. It is illegal for a
physician to facilitate or encourage a patient to use a federally
controlled substance, he said.

The new regulations could make already-skittish physicians even more wary
of signing a medical marijuana form, he said.

"The more the government goes on a fishing expedition into the confidential
files of doctors, the more risk there is to doctors of running afoul of
federal law," he said. "We are very concerned."

Higginson said the state will use the records to establish a legitimate
patient-doctor relationship and nothing more.