PSYCHIATRIST SUES OVER MEDICINAL POT

A Berkeley psychiatrist who has recommended marijuana use to more than
5,000 patients sued the Medical Board of California yesterday for damages
and to prevent it from prying into his records.

Dr. Tod Mikuriya, whose peripatetic practice has made him the physician of
last resort for patients throughout California who say marijuana eases
their suffering, accused the board of invading his privacy and that of his
patients.

The Medical Board has filed an accusation against Mikuriya that could
result in the suspension or revocation of his license to practice medicine.

Mikuriya's complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses the
Medical Board of retaliatory discrimination because of his attempt to
practice medicine in accordance with Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative
approved by California voters that legalized medical marijuana.

And it contends that in subpoenaing the records of 46 of his patients, the
board is engaged in an unconstitutional fishing expedition whose goal was
to frighten physicians away from recommending marijuana use for seriously
ill patients.