PROBATION, $5,000 FINE FORMALLY IMPOSED

The state Board of Medical Examiners imposed final disciplinary action
Friday against a Molalla doctor who has signed medical marijuana
applications for close to 2,000 Oregonians, some of whom he never met in
person.

Dr. Phillip Leveque, an osteopath, will be suspended from practicing
medicine for 90 days, starting May 1, fined $5,000 and placed on 10 years'
probation. The board's order also requires him to follow accepted standards
of medical care when signing for medical marijuana patients.

For instance, before signing an application, he must review patients'
medical records; conduct a medical history and physical exam; meet the
patients in person to discuss the diagnosis and risks and benefits of
treatment options; provide a written treatment plan; and maintain medical
records.

The order also requires Leveque to report in person for an interview with
the board at each of its quarterly meetings.

Kathleen Haley, executive director of the state Board of Medical Examiners,
said that by signing the board's order, Leveque acknowledged that he
violated the standard of care required of Oregon physicians and admitted
that his practice constituted unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.

"The other point is, this isn't about marijuana," she said.

She said the board previously disciplined another Oregon doctor who was
prescribing drugs over the Internet for similar reasons: He wasn't
reviewing charts or conducting medical exams.

Leveque has said some patients he signed for, who lived in remote corners
of the state, mailed him their medical records. He would confer with them
by phone before signing their applications, he said.

Last week, before the board gave its final approval, Leveque faxed a copy
of the disciplinary order to The Register-Guard. He called the board's
punishment "draconian" and maintained he has done nothing wrong.

"The people who are being punished are my patients," he said.

State medical regulators punished Leveque in the 1980s, as well, for what
they described as improper treatment of pain.

Oregon's medical marijuana law, passed by voters in 1998, permits people
with certain specified illnesses and symptoms to smoke, grow and possess
marijuana as long as a doctor says the drug could help them.