Boards scrutinize doctors over medical marijuana

Physicians say the investigations are politically motivated.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. April 26, 2004.

California physician Philip Denney, MD, figures a complaint will be filed against him someday for recommending medical marijuana to patients.

"They'll make something up sooner or later, and I'll have to deal with them," said Dr. Denney, who in February started a southern California practice dedicated to medical marijuana evaluations.

Dr. Denney isn't alone in his belief. Other California physicians as well as at least one in Oregon who recommend medical marijuana say they are being persecuted by medical boards because of the practice.

But the state medical boards say they aren't targeting physicians who recommend marijuana. They say investigations are based on questions of 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.

In October 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of doctors to talk about marijuana with patients. Nine states have passed measures that make it legal for patients to grow and possess marijuana for medical use when doctors recommend it: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

In California, doctors said investigations are politically motivated, prompted by law enforcement agencies that don't condone what they do and lodge complaints with the board.