Medical Boards Investigate Doctors Prescribing Medical Marijuana
As more local medical boards review doctors' practices of recommending
medical marijuana to patients, some physicians are complaining that
the investigations are politically motivated, the American Medical
News reported April 26.
Several California physicians and at least one Oregon doctor have
been scrutinized by their local medical boards because of their
medical-marijuana recommendations. Both states, along with Alaska,
Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, and Washington, have medical-marijuana
laws.
State medical boards contend that the investigations are based
on inquiries into 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.
But doctors claim that law-enforcement officials who don't support
medical marijuana submit complaints to the board. "We're known
for representing medical cannabis, and the feds don't want it to
happen, and they will stop at nothing," said Berkeley, Calif.,
psychiatrist Tod Mikuriya, M.D., who was placed on a five-year probation
by his medical board.
In an October 2003 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court defended the
rights of doctors to talk about marijuana with patients.
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