cannabisnews.com: Doctor Offers Relief Through Marijuana Doctor Offers Relief Through Marijuana Posted by FoM on February 07, 2002 at 10:33:00 PT Editorial Source: Curry Coastal Pilot When the medical marijuana network revealed the identity of Dr. Phillip Leveque, The Oregonian was on the phone the next day. Leveque said, “They telephoned me and said, ‘Is it true you’ll give a medical marijuana card to anybody?’” His answer was no. Leveque was in Brookings Monday at the Best Western Beachfront Inn. His suite doubled as an office and examination room for some of the 130-plus patients seeking his help in obtaining a medical marijuana card for the relief of various illnesses. Leveque pointed out that he does not issue the cards, the state does. He merely signs the applications for patients to submit to the state to receive a card. “When Oregon passed the Medical Marijuana Law, they thought about 500 people would apply for cards in Oregon,” said Leveque. “Now 3,000 people have cards, and I’ve got about 500 to 1,000 people waiting to see me.” A medical marijuana card is issued to individuals with certain medical conditions, allowing them to grow their own cannabis plants. Some of the conditions listed on the application are: cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures and multiple sclerosis. Leveque believes in the healing capabilities of marijuana. His information package states that studies have shown it can arrest glaucoma, relieve pain, help migraines and block epileptic seizures. It helps people with HIV/AIDS to relieve stress and depression, eliminate nausea, reduce their pain and stimulate their appetite, he said. “I know what pain is all about,” said Leveque, explaining the empathy he has for his patients. “I have no trouble signing their applications.” Leveque said he underwent prostate surgery in 1991. During the procedure, he was given too much spinal anesthesia, burning a number of spinal nerves. “I was on crutches for eight-and-a-half years,” he said. “I had to use crutches because I couldn’t place any weight on my feet. I was in the hospital 10 times, and there was nothing they could do for me. My feet burn constantly and my tailbone burns constantly.” However, Leveque admits he does not use marijuana himself. “Are you kidding?” he said. “If I get pulled over by a cop, and I’ve been using marijuana, he’d rub his little hands together and throw out my back.” Leveque has been a professor of pharmacology and toxicology for 22 years. He taught in 10 different medical schools throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, and has schooled more than 2,000 physicians. He has appeared in court on poison cases as an expert forensic toxicologist and claims to have prevailed in 80 percent of those cases. The doctor now takes his show on the road, setting up exam rooms in hotel suites. “For a lot of my patients, it is impossible to get them to see me,” he said. “So I come to them.” Brookings resident Robert Walker, also known as “Brother Bob,” learned about Leveque through the internet two-and-a-half years ago. Walker works with the Southern Oregon Medical Marijuana Network, a nonprofit organization. Their business card reads: “Helping those who need the healing herb secure their status in Southern Oregon.” “We have no reason to be treated any different than anyone else,” Walker said. He describes Leveque as a “total saving grace.” Leveque gives his patients a physical exam and looks over their medical records to determine their eligibility for the medical marijuana card program. He admits there are downfalls to the service he offers. Last spring, he discovered people were forging his name on applications. “They were selling the applications for $300 a piece,” Leveque said. “And they didn’t even spell my name right. They spelled it with a g instead of a q. Fortunately they were caught and found guilty; they wrecked the system for everybody else.” Aside from that, during the past six months, the Board of Medical Examiners demanded he submit to a complete physical and psychological exam, “to show I’m competent to practice medicine.” The doctor again reiterates his motivation is to help his patients who suffer chronic pain, and laments the high price of prescription drugs. “During my training as a pharmacologist, I was taught that cannabis is strictly a euphoriant. I had no idea (at the time) it would be useful for so many conditions. It is truly a miracle drug. Besides, why should a person have to pay $150 for prescription drugs when they can grow these plants themselves?” Although Leveque is well aware that marijuana use for the treatment of pain is still highly controversial, he says “This is my moral obligation as a physician to help patients. That’s what I’m supposed to do, and that’s what I do.” The Curry Coastal Pilot is published twice weekly on Wednesday and Saturday in Brookings, Oregon by Western Communications, Inc. Source: Curry Coastal Pilot (OR) Published: February 5, 2002Copyright: 2000-2002 Western Communications, Inc. Contact: mail currypilot.comWebsite: http://www.currypilot.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmMolalla Doctor Facing Disciplinehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11802.shtml Medicinal Pot Is Doctor's Specialtyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10814.shtmlDoctor Defends His Use of Medical Marijuana Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10292.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by FoM on February 10, 2002 at 13:50:09 PT If You Do This I can put pages together but would need links to their web sites and a small bio of each one and a picture that I can resize most times if need be. It could be title anything that you all want and someone could keep looking and if more names, web addresses and pictures are found I could add them to the page. I could put it on my Freedom To Exhale web site. Just let me know if this gives you any ideas.http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on February 10, 2002 at 13:11:38 PT that is a great idea A webpage or two dedicating these heroes. If only more doctors would come out of the closets and speak out, the wall will be torn down alot more quicker. take care,ff [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by lookinside on February 08, 2002 at 04:16:01 PT: agreed... Dr. Mikuriya saved our sanity and maybe my wife's life...These doctors deserve our thanks and support...What they do takes more courage than you could find in the entire DEA... [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by herbdoc215 on February 08, 2002 at 00:49:22 PT: You forgot a few! Never forget Todd Mikuriya who has been so much a pioneer for so many others who came afterward. After running a clinic in Ca. I could name many brave physicians who I saw put their oath in front of their country club status such as my personal physician who is no longer even practicing medicine in US anymore as he came back to Canada right after I did. But my personal hero of all times is a MD who very few know about because the gov't is SCARED to take on this man, Dr. Sam Ruben, who I have seen above all other MD's perform one selfless action after another for what he believed in. All the while Dr. Ruben was doing work as consulting physician for Humboldt Research Institute he was a MD working in a very "secure" gov't facility and has many responsibilities for US gov't in command positions, I say all this only for history as it deserves to be recorded that their were a few Christians left this time when God went looking in today's Sodom and he's one of them! After the coming clamp down is done, our childrens children would never believe we had the gall some of us have shown actually chasing this rainbow looking for the pot of mercy without these forms of written history as Alexandria is being burned again starting with Pope Shrub. May God have mercy upon their souls for the damage and harm they have caused in the name of this unholy war/jihad as they have declared upon our culture. Somebody should document all that went down in Cali for posterity as those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Steven Tuck [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by freedom fighter on February 07, 2002 at 23:00:46 PT In my book, two America Heroes “During my training as a pharmacologist, I was taught that cannabis is strictly a euphoriant. I had no idea (at the time) it would be useful for so many conditions. It is truly a miracle drug. Besides, why should a person have to pay $150 for prescription drugs when they can grow these plants themselves?” Dr. Phillip Leveque Dr. Russo [ Post Comment ] Post Comment