COLORADO DOCTOR ACCUSED OF FAULTY MEDICAL-POT RECOMMENDATION, MAY LOSE LICENSE

A doctor accused of approving medical marijuana for a woman six
months pregnant could become the first Colorado physician to lose his
license for a sub-standard marijuana recommendation.

Dr. Manuel De Jesus Aquino is accused of recommending marijuana in
January to a 20-year-old woman at a Denver dispensary. In a formal
complaint filed last week by the state attorney general's office on
behalf of the Colorado Medical Board, Aquino is accused of not
performing a thorough review of the woman's medical history, not
listening to her heart or lungs, not asking her to come back for
follow-up care and not taking any notes on the 3-minute evaluation
other than on her marijuana-recommendation form.

The doctor did not ask whether she was pregnant, and the woman, who
was 28 weeks along, did not volunteer the information, the complaint
states. When the woman gave birth in April, her child tested positive
for marijuana and had "initial feeding difficulties," the complaint says.

The complaint against Aquino was first reported by Solutions, a
health-policy news website produced by professional journalists at
the University of Colorado Denver's School of Public Affairs and
funded by private foundations.

"Pregnancy is a contraindication for the use of medical marijuana,"
the complaint states, later stating that Aquino "failed to meet the
generally accepted standard of medical practice."

Colorado law requires doctors to have a "bona-fide" relationship with
patients to whom they recommend marijuana.

Aquino has been a doctor since 1974 and licensed in Colorado since
2007, according to a profile of him posted on the Colorado Division
of Registrations' website. His license has been suspended pending the
outcome of the medical board's proceedings, according to the complaint.

Aquino's attorney, Sheila Meer, could not be reached for comment
Tuesday evening. She told Solutions that Aquino would respond to the
charges within the 30 days allowed.

"It would be premature to talk about it until then," Meer told the website.

Aquino specializes in medical-marijuana recommendations, according to
the online profile.

In July, Aurora police arrested a doctor named Manuel Aquino-Villaman
on allegations of writing shoddy marijuana recommendations to two
undercover Aurora police officers.

There is only one doctor named Manuel Aquino listed in Colorado's
physician licensing records, though no one was available to confirm
Tuesday evening whether Aquino and Aquino-Villaman are the same person.

See the complaint. Read articles by the health-policy news website
Solutions. healthpolicysolutions.org