MEDI-CAL PAYS POT-RELATED EXPENSES

Clearlake Woman Reimbursed For Part Of Her Share Of Cost Of
Disability Caregiver

Sylvia Price's four-year struggle with Medi-Cal officials has ended
with the agency reimbursing her for medical marijuana-related expenses.

Medi-Cal issued her a $4,263 check May 29, eight months after the
California Department of Health Services determined her medical
marijuana expenses are "bona fide" and can be used to reduce the
amount she had been paying for a state-sponsored caregiver.

Price, 59, is a Clearlake resident who relies on marijuana to help her
cope with disabling ailments that include lupus, seizures,
osteoporosis and reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

She calls marijuana "a gift from God."

She said she has increased her weight from 92 pounds to 115 pounds and
has felt well enough to go on several cruises, which require little
physical activity.

State health officials are unaware of anyone else using medical
marijuana to offset their share-of-cost for Medi-Cal services.

The reimbursement check covers a period between May 2003 and May
2004.

For almost three years prior to that period, Price had been allowed to
deduct the cost of her marijuana -- $430 a month -- from the amount
she was required to pay toward her $1,300-a-month home care services.
Her long-time companion and medical marijuana supplier, Terry Robl,
also is her home-care provider.

Price wanted others in her situation to similarly benefit, so she went
public in April 2003. Shortly afterward, county Social Services
officials terminated her medical marijuana deduction, saying it was in
conflict with federal laws that continue to outlaw marijuana.

Price and Roble appealed and a series of administrative hearings
followed.

The 2006 decision means that other medical marijuana patients who
receive public assistance through the Department of Health Services
should be eligible for similar reimbursements, according to the Drug
Policy Alliance, which represented Price.

Robl said he believes the decision also could lead to private
insurance companies accepting medical marijuana as a legitimate
medical expense.

Buoyed by their victory, Price and Robl are now asking Medi-Cal to
reimburse Price for another $16,000 for out-of-pocket marijuana
expenses incurred before and since 2003.

Such requests will be denied, said Department of Health Care Services
spokesman Mike Bowman. While medical marijuana expenses can be applied
to a deductible, Medi-Cal cannot pay for the marijuana itself because
it is not FDA approved, he said.

"Medical marijuana is not a covered benefit under Medi-Cal," he said.