T
The420Guy
Guest
The Oregon Health Division held the first in a series of hearings today on
Oregon's Medical Marijuana Law. The 1998 initiative has come under fire
since state officials found that 40% of the marijuana ID cards issued in
Oregon came from one physician. The recently imposed temporary rules which
are the focus of the hearing, make getting a marijuana card more diffiecult
for some patients. Colin Fogarty reports.
Dr. Phillip Leveque sits at a card table in a modest living room in
Northeast Portland. The retired osteopath examines a stack of papers to
make sure this patient has his medical marijuana application in order.
Leveque: Make sure that you keep copies of it, and keep both of these
application forms in your wallet. This will protect you from the local
cops, OK. OK? Alright, you are all done, and now I have to do a physical
exam...
In the last two months, Leveque has seen more than 300 patients this way.
In order to qualify, a patient must suffer from one of nine illnesses
listed under the law. Those include cancer, multiple sclerosis, and
glaucoma. Leveque is trying to establish a documented doctor-patient
relationship with his clients. With nearly 900 applications in all, Leveque
is the state's most prolific medical advocate of marijuana.
Leveque: If a patient tells me it works, and the state of Oregon says if
you have one of these conditions, you can get a medial marijuana card and
use marijuana, that's enough for me.
But in many cases, Leveque never actually examined the patients for whom he
recommended marijuana as a treatment. As a result, the Board of Medical
Examiners is looking into his work and the state Health Division issued new
temporary rules requiring proof of a legitimate doctor-patient
relationship. Leveque says he was trying accommodate patients who couldn't
find a physician in their area to approve their applications.
Leveque: I've got patients in Ontario, which is at the far eastern end of
the state, which is about an eight hour drive to Portland if they wanted to
see me. I got them in Klamath Falls Lakeview, Bend, Prineville...literally
all over the state. And most of these people are in severe medical problems.
But the Oregon Health Division says that the Medical Marijuana Law requires
the recommendation come from a patient's attending physician. The state's
Public Health Officer Dr. Grant Higginson says his agency is trying to
insure patients and doctors comply with the law.
Higginson: And if you read the law, where it says that a primary physician
must have responsibility for caring for and treatment, I think it's saying
that patients need to be getting their written statements from someone who
has a real involvement in that patients care. The law was not written to
allow any willing physician to provide that written statement. So that's
why we want to make sure that people are indeed complying with the intent
of the law.
Toward that end, the Health Division sent letters to nearly all the
patients who received help from Dr. Leveque, asking them to resubmit their
applications. This time, the agency required a more extensive examination
by Leveque. Rick Fipps of Portland, who uses marijuana to alleviate
migraine headaches, was angered by the whole ordeal.
Fipps: They're using the administration of the program to change the law.
They're change the way it was meant to be implemented, I believe when the
voters put it in, by changing administrative rules that requires more
documentation than was on the original bill when it was passed all that
sort of thing.
Back at Leveque's makeshift clinic, a printer churns out paper work for
another patient. We're in the kitchen of marijuana activist Paul Stanford.
Stanford: We need a room where they can fill out all this paper work. We
need a room where they can have a physical exam. And so it just seemed to
be convenient, and we're already paying the rent here. My neighbors aren't
too thrilled about it. But it's not more than somebody that has a
Tupperware party or something like that.
Down in Stanford's basement, a small, brightly lit room holds about ten
marijuana plants. Some five feet high--enough for six patients.
Stanford: This is our vegetation room and the light in here stays on 24
hours. That way the plants stay in the vegetative growth cycle, like it's
the summer.
In the end, most of Leveque's patients will have access to such marijuana
after they resubmit their applications and receive their ID cards, allowing
to them to grow their own pot. But about 75 patients withdrew their
applications as a result of the new scrutiny. The Health Division has
concluded its first field hearing in Bend. It will hold three more in
Medford, Eugene and Portland. The agency will issue final administrative
rules next month.
Oregon Public Broadcasting (Portland, OR)
Health Division Begins Hearings on Medical Marijuana Law
December 4, 2001
Colin Fogerty reporting
web link: https://www.opb.org/nwnews/trans01/marihearings.asp
audio link: https://www.opb.org/nwnews/ra/orcon120401a.ra
Oregon's Medical Marijuana Law. The 1998 initiative has come under fire
since state officials found that 40% of the marijuana ID cards issued in
Oregon came from one physician. The recently imposed temporary rules which
are the focus of the hearing, make getting a marijuana card more diffiecult
for some patients. Colin Fogarty reports.
Dr. Phillip Leveque sits at a card table in a modest living room in
Northeast Portland. The retired osteopath examines a stack of papers to
make sure this patient has his medical marijuana application in order.
Leveque: Make sure that you keep copies of it, and keep both of these
application forms in your wallet. This will protect you from the local
cops, OK. OK? Alright, you are all done, and now I have to do a physical
exam...
In the last two months, Leveque has seen more than 300 patients this way.
In order to qualify, a patient must suffer from one of nine illnesses
listed under the law. Those include cancer, multiple sclerosis, and
glaucoma. Leveque is trying to establish a documented doctor-patient
relationship with his clients. With nearly 900 applications in all, Leveque
is the state's most prolific medical advocate of marijuana.
Leveque: If a patient tells me it works, and the state of Oregon says if
you have one of these conditions, you can get a medial marijuana card and
use marijuana, that's enough for me.
But in many cases, Leveque never actually examined the patients for whom he
recommended marijuana as a treatment. As a result, the Board of Medical
Examiners is looking into his work and the state Health Division issued new
temporary rules requiring proof of a legitimate doctor-patient
relationship. Leveque says he was trying accommodate patients who couldn't
find a physician in their area to approve their applications.
Leveque: I've got patients in Ontario, which is at the far eastern end of
the state, which is about an eight hour drive to Portland if they wanted to
see me. I got them in Klamath Falls Lakeview, Bend, Prineville...literally
all over the state. And most of these people are in severe medical problems.
But the Oregon Health Division says that the Medical Marijuana Law requires
the recommendation come from a patient's attending physician. The state's
Public Health Officer Dr. Grant Higginson says his agency is trying to
insure patients and doctors comply with the law.
Higginson: And if you read the law, where it says that a primary physician
must have responsibility for caring for and treatment, I think it's saying
that patients need to be getting their written statements from someone who
has a real involvement in that patients care. The law was not written to
allow any willing physician to provide that written statement. So that's
why we want to make sure that people are indeed complying with the intent
of the law.
Toward that end, the Health Division sent letters to nearly all the
patients who received help from Dr. Leveque, asking them to resubmit their
applications. This time, the agency required a more extensive examination
by Leveque. Rick Fipps of Portland, who uses marijuana to alleviate
migraine headaches, was angered by the whole ordeal.
Fipps: They're using the administration of the program to change the law.
They're change the way it was meant to be implemented, I believe when the
voters put it in, by changing administrative rules that requires more
documentation than was on the original bill when it was passed all that
sort of thing.
Back at Leveque's makeshift clinic, a printer churns out paper work for
another patient. We're in the kitchen of marijuana activist Paul Stanford.
Stanford: We need a room where they can fill out all this paper work. We
need a room where they can have a physical exam. And so it just seemed to
be convenient, and we're already paying the rent here. My neighbors aren't
too thrilled about it. But it's not more than somebody that has a
Tupperware party or something like that.
Down in Stanford's basement, a small, brightly lit room holds about ten
marijuana plants. Some five feet high--enough for six patients.
Stanford: This is our vegetation room and the light in here stays on 24
hours. That way the plants stay in the vegetative growth cycle, like it's
the summer.
In the end, most of Leveque's patients will have access to such marijuana
after they resubmit their applications and receive their ID cards, allowing
to them to grow their own pot. But about 75 patients withdrew their
applications as a result of the new scrutiny. The Health Division has
concluded its first field hearing in Bend. It will hold three more in
Medford, Eugene and Portland. The agency will issue final administrative
rules next month.
Oregon Public Broadcasting (Portland, OR)
Health Division Begins Hearings on Medical Marijuana Law
December 4, 2001
Colin Fogerty reporting
web link: https://www.opb.org/nwnews/trans01/marihearings.asp
audio link: https://www.opb.org/nwnews/ra/orcon120401a.ra