Professional Issues

BOARDS SCRUTINIZE DOCTORS OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Physicians Say the Investigations Are Politically Motivated.

California physician Philip Denney, MD, figures a complaint will be
filed against him someday for recommending medical marijuana to patients.

"They'll make something up sooner or later, and I'll have to deal with
them," said Dr. Denney, who in February started a southern California
practice dedicated to medical marijuana evaluations.

Dr. Denney isn't alone in his belief. Other California physicians as
well as at least one in Oregon who recommend medical marijuana say
they are being persecuted by medical boards because of the practice.

But the state medical boards say they aren't targeting physicians who
recommend marijuana. They say investigations are based on questions of
proper medical practice.

"As complaints come in, we're going to investigate them in the context
of good medicine," said Joan Jerzak, chief of the Medical Board of
California's enforcement program.

In October 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of doctors to
talk about marijuana with patients. Nine states have passed measures
that make it legal for patients to grow and possess marijuana for
medical use when doctors recommend it: Alaska, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

9 states allow patients to grow and possess marijuana for medical use
when doctors recommend it. In California, doctors said investigations
are politically motivated, prompted by law enforcement agencies that
don't condone what they do and lodge complaints with the board.

Last year, California physician William Eidelman, MD, had his license
suspended after deputies said he recommended marijuana without proper
medical cause.

Berkeley, Calif., psychiatrist Tod Mikuriya, MD, is appealing the
medical board's March decision to place him on five years' probation
over medical marijuana issues. "We're known for representing medical
cannabis, and the feds don't want it to happen, and they will stop at
nothing," he said.

In March, Phillip Leveque, DO, had his license suspended by the Oregon
Board of Medical Examiners. He called the action an inquisition based
on his authorizing medical marijuana.

"They've been harassing me now for years," said Dr. Leveque.

Oregon board Executive Director Kathleen Haley said Dr. Leveque's
license was suspended for violating a 2002 order. "We have 20 years of
dealing with this physician. This is more of a pattern with an
individual physician than the board examining physicians who
participate in the medical marijuana law."