cannabisnews.com: Doctors Have Right To Suggest Pot for Patients Doctors Have Right To Suggest Pot for Patients Posted by FoM on June 01, 2001 at 20:05:09 PT By Helen Altonn, Star-Bulletin Source: Star-Bulletin Doctors should not be afraid to discuss the benefits and risks of marijuana and to recommend it if medically warranted, says an attorney for plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the nation's drug czar and other federal officials.Jonathan Weissglass, San Francisco attorney who was co-counsel in the Conant v. McCaffrey case, discussed legal issues regarding medical marijuana yesterday at the third annual Hawaii Conference on Addictions, sponsored by the University of Hawaii John A. Burns Medical School. The two-day event explores medical and social issues of medical marijuana.Weissglass said that after California legalized marijuana for certain medical purposes in 1996, National Drug Policy Control Office Director Barry McCaffrey responded, "For sure, we're not getting rolled over on this."The office decided to take action against physicians recommending medical marijuana, although the Controlled Substance Act does not prevent that, Weissglass pointed out. The act simply prohibits doctors from dispensing or prescribing marijuana.Since the federal government has criminalized marijuana, states cannot make it legal, but they do not have to make it illegal under state law, he explained. The federal government must prosecute medical marijuana use itself but cannot force states to do the same, he said.So on Dec. 30, 1996, he said, the federal government began a series of threats against California physicians, saying their license to prescribe drugs could be revoked if they prescribed or recommended marijuana.In 1997 the federal government began to investigate physicians, he said. "Physicians were incredibly intimidated from even discussing medical marijuana with patients."The federal government created serious problems with the physician-patient relationship and with the medical staff, he said.The federal government exceeded its authority under federal law and violated First Amendment rights of doctors and patients, Weissglass said.The goal of the lawsuit was "to allow doctors to be doctors," he said.District JUDGE William Alsup on Sept. 7 granted a permanent injunction prohibiting the federal government from revoking a doctor's DEA registration for recommending medical marijuana to a patient and initiating any investigation on that basis.The federal government has appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Hawaii. If it stands up, Weissglass said, the decision will also apply here.He said physicians should feel free to discuss medical marijuana and recommend it, "just as you might recommend red wine or herbal medicines."But doctors should follow some precautions, he said, suggesting they carefully examine patients and recommend conventional medicines first.Also, doctors should not tell patients where to obtain marijuana or give it to them, he said. "That's obviously a federal crime and could even be a state crime."Among those taking notes at the conference was Arlene Buklarewicz, a self-employed registered nurse and certified case manager in Volcano, on the Big Island.She said she has a patient in his late 50s with non-Hodgkin lymphoma who received a stem cell transplant at a mainland facility earlier this year.He had eight rounds of chemotherapy the past two years and used marijuana six times to control his nausea, she said. He was nauseous only twice -- when he did not use marijuana, she said.But he has never told his doctor in Honolulu about using marijuana, which he grows in his yard, she said. His doctor prescribed four different drugs to use as needed for nausea, and he has never used any of them, Buklarewicz said.A recent CAT scan showed he was "totally clear" of cancer, although he still uses marijuana occasionally for residual effects of chemotherapy, she said.She said he obtained an application from a Big Island doctor to use medical marijuana under the new state law. But he was afraid to turn it in after a recent Supreme Court decision that the federal law on illegal marijuana makes no exceptions for seriously ill people, she said.Ted Sakai, director of the state Public Safety Department, which issues applications for medical marijuana, said that as of May 17, 197 patients and 20 caregivers had applied. Thirty-five physicians had recommended marijuana for medical reasons.He gave this breakdown:Oahu: 19 physicians, 49 patients, 10 caregivers.Big Island: Seven physicians, 78 patients, three caregivers.Maui: Four physicians, 16 patients, two caregivers.Kauai: Five physicians, 54 patients, five caregivers.Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor, raised the issue of commercial products from compounds of cannabis or marijuana."Will the development of new products make medical marijuana obsolete?" he said. "Will pharmaceutical companies feel it is worth the developmental cost?"A French group is looking into development of a cannabis chemical to reduce appetite, he said, and various compounds appear to protect brain cells after a stroke or head injury.However, he said, "whole smoked cannabis" is more effective than a pharmaceutical version of it. He said he has never had a patient who prefers the synthetic Marinol to marijuana.Commercial products also will be more expensive than natural marijuana, he said. In the end, he said, commercial success will depend how vigorously the prohibition against marijuana is enforced.Note: But federal officials are harassing doctors for doing so, he says.Complete Title: Doctors Have Right To Suggest Pot for Patients, Lawyer InsistsSource: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)Author: Helen Altonn, Star-BulletinPublished: Friday, June 1, 2001 Copyright: 2001 Honolulu Star-BulletinContact: letters starbulletin.comWebsite: http://www.starbulletin.com/Related Article & Web Site:Marijuana The Forbidden Medicinehttp://www.rxmarihuana.com/Harvard Doctor Praises Marijuana as Miracle Drughttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9923.shtmlConference To Cover Latest Dish on Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9757.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by FoM on June 02, 2001 at 12:21:04 PT Thank You Rev. Jonathan Adler Thank You Rev. Jonathan Adler,I appreciate you telling us how you saw the conference. There sure is a big void to fill in the middle of all the events that take place. We know so much but we need to connect with the people. Fear keeps many from speaking out and rightfully so. Things must change.Thanks Again, FoM! Medicinal Cannabis Web Sites [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Rev. Jonathan Adler on June 02, 2001 at 11:41:24 PT: Medical Conference about Addictions Not Legal Pot. Aloha and Howzit! I attended the conference on addictions presented by UH Hawaii School of Psychiatry and was amazed to find NO EXPERTS on marijuana. There were addictions counselors who said anyone using marijuana was a dependent addict with mental problems. There was the Director of Public Safety and Prisons who said you could register your name and address where you are growing your 3 plants, but reminded us that it was a federal crime too. Therre was a medical study on whether pot was safe to use medically that showed it was!Imagine that. Nobody stood up and admitted growing, supplying and assisting sick registered preople in legally obtaining the medicine that the conference was about! Oh, that's right. I did. They all know what a hypocrisy the program really is! Legally registered but unable to legally get it! What a farce. I still will help anyone who needs it legally and we are always left out of these news stories. I was at the conference from beginning to end, but the reporter from the Star- Bulletin didn't even approach me to ask my opinion or get the rest of the story. She is biased, clearly. Aloha, Rev. Jonathan Adler/ Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute Hawaii Medical Marijuana [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Cuzn Buzz on June 01, 2001 at 22:47:17 PT RIGHT TO SELF MEDICATE? Many of us are fully qualified to self medicate.I have some problems with my spine one being retrospondylolythesis, another being two pronounced bone spurs on my dorsal spine which the doctors say they are not able to remove without risk of damaging my spinal chord. Most of the time aspirin handles it pretty well, but when it doesn't (episodic acute sciatica) , or I need to stop taking it to let my stomach lining regenerate, injected Meperidine (demerol) to kill the pain. I obtain my meperadine from Mexico.Doctors here don't like treating chronic pain because the patients are rarely satisfied with the level of relief codiene preparations offer, and the DEA raises an eyebrow when the good doctor prescribes strong opiates frequently.I use marijuana to control my inherited depression (people think we as a family are refined, but we are really just depressed). The benzodiazaphines the doctor prescribes make me mean, and reduce my self control, marijuana lifts me out of my depression but leaves me totaly in control...it's good medicine!Marijauna is an herbal medicine, and should be under no greater restrictions than distilled water.Nobody should need a note from a doctor to possess marijuana. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by DdC on June 01, 2001 at 20:31:08 PT Ah, to raise healthcare cost, lock up the doctors! Conant v. McCaffrey:http://www.soros.org/lindesmith/mmjsuit/arnold2.htmlFederal class-action lawsuit on behalf of physicians who recommend and seriously ill patients who need medical cannabis Declaration of Arnold Leff, M.D.More Doctor Declarationshttp://www.soros.org/lindesmith/mmjsuit/docs2.htmlContentshttp://www.soros.org/lindesmith/mmjsuit/conant2.htmlCannabis is Medicine! Get Over It!http://www.cannabinoid.com/boards/politics/media/35/35917.gif DdC: Start Here If Your This Tall - [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: