cannabisnews.com: Redding Doctor Sues DEA





Redding Doctor Sues DEA
Posted by CN Staff on December 02, 2006 at 12:01:36 PT
By Tim Hearden, Record Searchlight
Source: Record Searchlight 
California -- A Redding doctor who specializes in medical marijuana is suing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies for sending informants and undercover agents to his office posing as patients. Dr. Philip Denney, who has testified as an expert on medical cannabis before the state medical board and in court, claims the agencies have violated his constitutional rights and have had a chilling effect on his conversations with patients.
The suit in U.S. District Court stems from an investigation last year of Dixon Herbs, a Redding dispensary that was shut down in December. As part of the investigation, undercover officers obtained recommendations from Denney to take to Dixon Herbs, but police have said Denney was not a target of the probe. Also named in the suit are other agencies and individuals, including the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Redding Police Department; Shasta County Sheriff's Department; and county District Attorney Jerry Benito. "I feel that my rights as a citizen and particularly the rights of my patients and our relationships . . . (have) been seriously threatened by their activities and (they've) been threatened primarily for political reasons because they don't like what I do," said Denney, 58, who lives in Greenwood, near Sacramento, and has offices in Redding and Southern California. "The privacy and sanctity of physician-patient relationships has to be protected," he said Wednesday. "If I can't trust my patients, it makes it difficult for me to practice medicine ethically." Casey McEnry, a DEA special agent in San Francisco, said Wednesday she was unaware of the details of the case but added that the agency does not comment on active lawsuits. Assistant Shasta County Counsel Mike Ralston questioned whether Denney has a basis for a suit. "I don't think his contentions are legally well-founded," Ralston said Wednesday. "On the review of that complaint, I don't think the facts he alleges support the contention that he's making about his First Amendment rights being chilled. I don't think the one flows from the other." Law enforcement agencies have authority to do undercover investigations, Ralston said. "That's part of the tools of the trade that they have," he said. "I don't see anything wrong with the way that was gone about." Denney's San Francisco-based attorney, Zenia Gilg, said courts have barred the federal government from investigating doctors just because they're recommending medical marijuana. Although law enforcement agencies say Denney wasn't a target, "he was certainly used by law enforcement to obtain a recommendation to further their investigation of other people," Gilg said. "We want to make sure this never happens again and that he can feel confident that the government is enjoined not only from investigating him but also from using him in an investigation," she said. California's Compassionate Use Act of 1996 gives seriously ill patients the right to obtain and use marijuana to control pain, nausea and other symptoms. Denney has been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and has been recommending marijuana as treatment for more than six years. In the suit, Denney says an informant and an ATF agent visited his office on separate occasions, gave false identification, reported chronic pain and received written recommendations for marijuana. In both instances he acknowledges making the recommendations without having seen earlier medical records, which the patients told him were unavailable. Denney thinks there have been other undercover visits to his office, he said in the suit. Denney said Wednesday that "most" new patients are granted slips for medical pot but also that those patients are typically screened and asked for medical records. His office in Redding sees about 100 patients a week, he said. Determining whether a patient's request for cannabis is legitimate isn't difficult, Denney said. "It becomes pretty clear very quickly what people's motivations are," he said. Denney believes the authorities' investigations are politically motivated, he said. "The feds are in collusion with the state people to overturn state law, and I don't understand how state law enforcement can justify that," he said. "They work for the people of California. The people of California spoke loudly and clearly about this issue 10 years ago." Note: Denney claims medical marijuana investigation hurt his practice.Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA)Author: Tim Hearden, Record SearchlightPublished: November 30, 2006Copyright: 2006 Record Searchlight Contact: letters redding.comWebsite: http://www.redding.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #39 posted by FoM on December 05, 2006 at 08:40:15 PT
Man's Best Friend
I just love dogs! What a wonderful story.
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Comment #38 posted by FoM on December 05, 2006 at 08:38:10 PT
Hope
She got the card replaced and her computer is working fine now. If it is the card there is a way to check it. Maybe someone can mention how to look inside your Ethernet Card. I forgot how but she had me check mine and it was full of stuff and her's was empty. Maybe yours is going down slowly and that is why you are losing somethings. Just a thought.
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Comment #37 posted by Hope on December 05, 2006 at 08:37:50 PT
Off Topic....Dog story.
http://www.wbir.com/news/archive.aspx?storyid=40172
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Comment #36 posted by Hope on December 05, 2006 at 08:32:56 PT
Ethernet card
I'll mention that to my husband.Tech calls need to be made, no doubt.
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Comment #35 posted by FoM on December 05, 2006 at 07:36:45 PT
Hope
My sister has a relatively new computer and she was having trouble and she called me and we went thru a bunch of different things and I wanted her to try to do a system restore and she couldn't. I told her I couldn't help her because she needed technical help. She found out her, I think it's called, an Ethernet card died. I wish I knew how to help you. I miss our e-mails too. 
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Comment #34 posted by Hope on December 04, 2006 at 23:44:04 PT
E-mail and Word...
They are missed. I use e-mail more than the phone. Jonesing for my e-mail!It'll get straightened out.
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Comment #33 posted by Hope on December 04, 2006 at 23:39:02 PT
computer
The anti-virus stuff wasn't performing to suit my husband. When he started trying to get it to work right...things got worse in a hurry. Then we found we couldn't do a system restore. Everything didn't so much "blow up" as "dissolve". It'll be awhile before it's all working again because he is so frustrated...but I did manage, with a phone call to a tech, to get it where it would connect to the internet again...although, I think the anti-virus, along with a lot of other stuff is still kind of up in the air...or sort of no where...so to speak. But at least I can get on line. For now, anyway.
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Comment #32 posted by FoM on December 04, 2006 at 16:58:28 PT
Hope
I've been worried that you were having serious computer problems. What went wrong? If you can't answer that's ok.
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Comment #31 posted by Hope on December 04, 2006 at 16:56:41 PT
computer trouble
I'm online, for the moment...but still have no e-mail or Word program or access to saved Word documents. I hope I can get it all back and working soon.
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Comment #30 posted by potpal on December 04, 2006 at 14:08:07 PT
News from Maryland
MS patient admits to marijuana useby Jay Hodgkins Staff WriterWorcester County TimesOcean City - A Maryland woman with multiple sclerosis pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana Monday in District Court, but successfully argued that she met the conditions of a state law passed in 2005 that drastically decreases the maximum punishment for use based on medicial necessity.Elizabeth -----, 48, of Manchester, MD., was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 15 years ago and has been using marijuana to alleviate pain ever since, her lawyer, Michael Rotwein, said."Maryland does not allow (doctors) to prescribe it," Rotwein said. "Apparently, we're a bit conservative when it comes to that, but I don't think she's going to stop using it."Judge Daniel R. Mumford was satisfied she met the requirements for medicinal use and ordered her to pay the maximum $100 fine under that law.Possession of marijuana is normally punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on December 03, 2006 at 20:22:11 PT
News Brief from Snipped Source
Medical Marijuana Advocates To Sue State Attorney GeneralK Kaufmann, The Desert SunDecember 3, 2006 A Coachella Valley medical marijuana advocacy group is funding a suit to be filed against the California attorney general, aimed at stopping the state from using federal law to prosecute legal medical marijuana users.The suit was announced at a meeting of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project today at the Cathedral City Public Library. Ken White, a lawyer from Ontario, said he had mailed the suit to Los Angeles Superior Court last month but did not yet know if it had been officially filed.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061203/UPDATE/61203009
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Comment #28 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2006 at 13:14:42 PT
when some day
you grow up and look aroundi will lay my flesh beneath youlike a warm carpet
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Comment #27 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2006 at 13:08:50 PT
let the free men decide
in February, how they will punishpardon me, please excuse mefor i feel sick
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Comment #26 posted by whig on December 03, 2006 at 13:05:46 PT
BGreen
The maximum temperature setting is how I have my Volcano set, but it doesn't get very near combustion temperature. That's pretty much a good thing. Once I had a Vapir, and it was dreadful. Either it would be too cool to effectively vaporize, or it would put out so much heat that the herb would smoke. The fact that it had a "precise" temperature control was apparently irrelevant.
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Comment #25 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2006 at 13:02:58 PT
it never was about toking
it is about 'being' able to toke
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Comment #24 posted by whig on December 03, 2006 at 13:02:30 PT
charmed quark
I really like hybrids. The indica is something better for late in the day for me, because I do seem to be lower energy and less productive with it, but I've always had some difficulty sleeping and this helps a lot.I took a day off today, and am preparing to bake bread. Interestingly, I seem to get a little bit of a hit just taking in an occasional whiff of the yeast fermentation vapors.
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Comment #23 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2006 at 12:57:28 PT
give peace a chance
with your good handuse your good eyevictory is freedom
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Comment #22 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2006 at 12:47:33 PT
when that
subterranean harlot who whispers in your ear, ...says to youyou have power and destiny sits at your feetyou have complete controlyou are the promised
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Comment #21 posted by BGreen on December 03, 2006 at 12:44:49 PT
Slightly increase the Vaporizer temperature
If you increase the temperature to just below that needed for combustion you'll make sure you get a more complete cannabinoid profile in your vapor.IMHO, the proper indica/sativa hybrids give us the best of both worlds. If only they would allow research into this vital topic. Until then, it's up to us to find out what works best for our particular situations.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #20 posted by OverwhelmSam on December 03, 2006 at 12:43:29 PT
Keep On Suing
For every bust by the DEA, there should be a lawsuit.
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Comment #19 posted by charmed quark on December 03, 2006 at 12:32:53 PT
Whig - vaporizer
A number of years ago I was trying cannabis for my condition. They started me on a sativa, but I was getting anxious on it so the cooperative herbalist switched me to an indica dominant hybrid. That solved the anxiety problem and actually seemed to work better for the spasms and stuff. But when I tried vaporizing it I got anxiety again.So that really matches your experience. Thanks for the insight.
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Comment #18 posted by ekim on December 03, 2006 at 09:20:32 PT
how many have died for drug war - who will sue
Monday's show
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
Nicole Paultre with Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson. 
Exclusive: Her fiancé killed by police on their wedding day. A city is outraged. She calls it murder. Hear from the former bride-to-be and the Rev. Al Sharpton on an emotional "Larry King Live." Tune in Monday at 9 p.m. ET.• E-mail your questions for Nicole Paultre and the Rev. Al Sharpton
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on December 03, 2006 at 08:48:10 PT
global_warming 
I set that article up and closed it and looked at it again and didn't understand it so I don't know if it is worth posting so I didn't. I know I don't get somethings so maybe others would understand it. I just don't know.
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Comment #16 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2006 at 08:32:13 PT
is this news?
http://tinyurl.com/y48shuNY TimesDecember 3, 2006
The Way We Live Now
The New, Soft Paternalism
By JIM HOLTWhen the government tells you that you can’t smoke marijuana or that you must wear a helmet when you ride your motorcycle even if you happen to like the feeling of the wind in your hair, it is being paternalistic. It is largely treating you the way a parent treats a child, restricting your liberty for what it deems to be your own good. 
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on December 03, 2006 at 07:30:25 PT
Just a Comment
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. I can't find any news to post but maybe something will pop up later on today. I'll keep looking though. 
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Comment #14 posted by goneposthole on December 02, 2006 at 22:05:01 PT
Hope
It's a war, happens to be a drug war. All is fair in love and war, in case you forgot. Those prosecuting the war don't play by any rules. They can and do whatever they want to make it miserable for those who are the target.The US gov can be sued until the cows come home, they just don't care.The cretins in control of the US gov. have all of the big guns... literally.It's been going on for a couple of hundred years now. The 'Indian Removal Act of 1830' signed by Andrew Jackson extirpated many thousands of first nation people from the southeastern US. It caused untold misery for them.http://www.historicaldocuments.com/IndianRemovalAct.htm The US government has honed its skills perfectly when it comes to causing misery anywhere on earth, especially at home.There is nothing new under the sun. As long as the US gov exists in its current despicable malformation, it will continue as such.One thing it cannot do: Stop the proliferation of the cannabis plant.
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Comment #13 posted by ekim on December 02, 2006 at 20:04:45 PT
the groom is laid to rest
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/02/police.shooting.ap/index.html
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Comment #12 posted by Truth on December 02, 2006 at 19:50:55 PT
Hope
Post 3 was a good one, no, a great one.
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Comment #11 posted by whig on December 02, 2006 at 19:45:31 PT
Romulan
Good indica, my first real chance to try one out over the past few days. Excellent for sleep. Not as good for creativity, but I can write. A sativa is probably best in the morning, or some good hybrid.Oh, sativa for the vaporizer, definitely. Indica goes better with the pipe. This is probably validated in terms of the proportions of cannabinoids which the vaporizer "prefers" -- THC has a lower boiling point than some others, so you aren't getting the "whole plant" that way. Since a defining characteristic of indica is the other (non-THC) cannabinoids, burning seems better to me. Your mileage may vary and my opinions may change.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on December 02, 2006 at 17:41:21 PT
Hope
Good luck fixing your computer. 
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on December 02, 2006 at 17:37:37 PT
Computer acting up a bit...
Fixing to start "fixing" it. :0)If I disappear for awhile...don't worry.
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Comment #8 posted by Wayne on December 02, 2006 at 17:25:52 PT
OT: excellent OpEd in the Atlanta J-C about WoD
Pete has this posted on Drug WarRant. Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote a fantastic OpEd about Kathryn Johnston and the WoD. I viewed the article once without any problems, but when I linked it and went back a second time, it asked me to register. Should you have any problems, I just filled the form in with BS information, and viewed the article again just fine.
Misguided drug war claims another victim
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Comment #7 posted by global_warming on December 02, 2006 at 17:21:16 PT
how shortly?
just another breathsome more free blissMr. Obrador is knocking on Mohammed ' s  doorCaldoron is a faint ghost of so many dead nixonsand all those anslingershello dupont, hello lockheedhello Time For Change
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on December 02, 2006 at 17:19:04 PT
Wayne and Hope; Hope and Wayne,
They way together, You illustrate it reminds Me of how this relates to My occupation...They are banking on Me, or in this case a doctor not being perfect.If they are watching for Me to not be perfect then I'm gonna get screwed by those who screw people over when not perfect.Me? I point out they are exposed and control them like the plague. Don't enable them to walk on My heart...
Those kind of people exist and are a pain.Bring them right out in the open; expose them as messed up... and stop them, quick! In an elementary way that indicates if they continue they are jerks and will be treated like jerks; exposing them to others to see. Jerks don't like other people to see them as they are!The government is (today) full of jerks.
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Comment #5 posted by Wayne on December 02, 2006 at 17:07:29 PT
Re: Hope #3
You're right, Hope. What the DEA and the ATF did here in this case (at least it looks this way to ME) is commonly called "doctor shopping", which is where someone will go to doctors feigning symptoms or gaining sympathy in order to obtain prescriptions. "Doctor shopping", according to the Dept of Justice themselves, is a form of prescription fraud and it is against the law.Dr. Denney's attorneys would be wise to look into this. If this actually were to go to trial and the government were to lose, it would be soooo appropriate if they were defeated by their own actions.
Department of Ju$t-U$ link
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Comment #4 posted by whig on December 02, 2006 at 16:23:15 PT
gw 
The madness will be brought to an end, but those who have been the leaders who were once respected and followed will be seen shortly as psychotics howling at the moon.
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on December 02, 2006 at 16:03:37 PT
"Trade"? He doesn't see anything wrong?
"That's part of the tools of the trade that they have," he said. "I don't see anything wrong with the way that was gone about."His so called "Tools" are fraud...and "Trade" doesn't seem the right word for what they do. What do they "trade" in? Oh yes...misery, grief, lies and false accusations. A trade?Isn't it wrong to go in and lie to a doctor about who you are and lie that something's wrong with you to get a recommendation? Fraud? Fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, .... he doesn't see anything wrong with it.I see a lot wrong with it! A lot of other people do to!Stinking, lying, low life creeps. There's a lot wrong with it! A lot!
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on December 02, 2006 at 14:00:57 PT:
The chill works both ways
And the DEA, for all it's bravado is scared. For one reason.I've been saying this for years: get the DrugWarriors into court, force them to take the stand and make them repeat their lies about cannabis under oath, and to a man they will have to plead the 5th Amendment to avoid self-incrimination.Because if they dare utter their propaganda in a situation where they and their lies can be cross-examined, then the entire basis for cannabis prohibition becomes open to investigation. Meaning, cannabis prohibition, itself could become the subject of the case. The (to the public, largely unknown) racist origins of the cannabis laws will become known to the jury and all those who observe the case. Which, in a modern-day court room, with the jury and observers comprising a mixture of races, some of whom are members of the specific groups targeted by the the laws, such an examination will lead to some very angry people. To say the result could be politically explosive is to engage in gross understatement.I sincerely hope the DEA continues in its arrogance and foolishly sticks it's head in this hornet's nest, I really, really do. It would be a repetition of the Rosenthal case where the jurors, angered at being misinformed about the true nature of Mr. Rosenthal's activities in legally supplying cannabis to patients, made the unprecedented move after the trial of publicly apologizing to Mr. Rosenthal and also publicly excorriating the judge's and the prosecutor's tactics in not allowing the medical defense. To put cannabis prohibition on trial would be on par with the Scopes Trial of the 1920's which led to the allowance for the theory of evolution to be taught in public schools. Only the effects would be even vaster and deeper for society today, given how so much of national resources are spent 'fighting' this chimera to attain an equally mythical Holy Grail of a 'drug-free society'. C'mon, DEA, bring it on. Let's see what ya got! In the meantime, reformers should order several tons of ketchup for the crow you'll be made to eat; you need it all...
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Comment #1 posted by global_warming on December 02, 2006 at 13:19:39 PT
a chilling article
"The privacy and sanctity of physician-patient relationships has to be protected," he (Dr. Philip Denney) said Wednesday. "If I can't trust my patients, it makes it difficult for me to practice medicine ethically.""Assistant Shasta County Counsel Mike Ralston questioned whether Denney has a basis for a suit...I don't think his contentions are legally well-founded," Ralston said Wednesday. "On the review of that complaint, I don't think the facts he alleges support the contention that he's making about his First Amendment rights being chilled. I don't think the one flows from the other." What did he say? Can anybody tell me where is George Orwell so that he might clarify this statement, "I don't think the one flows from the other."Snitches, freaks, undercover agents, transvestites, blood sucking low life miserable excuses for human beings, someday it will be found that this whole war on drugs mentality and all those who have supported this madness will wake up to see the hideous prisons they have crafted, much like those prisons that belong in the depths, in the belly of subterranean harlot who whispers in your ear, ...When will this madness end?
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