PRESS RELEASE - 17th OCTOBER, 2003

Edition 15.

Cannabis News Items From Around the World

Rusty Harris's Latest in Sniffer Dog Saga...

Rusty's 13th court appearance and Free Hemp Awareness Festival in Byron Bay.....

Sniffer dog resistance hero Rusty Harris will make his 13th appearance before Byron Bay Local Court next Thursday, 23 October. An all-day Free Hemp Awareness Festival will be held in Railway Park to coincide with the court appearance.

Mr Harris has been in court 12 times over the past two-and-a-half years, defending himself against three charges relating to a police sniffer dog search and his arrest on 9 March, 2001, outside the former Fast Eddies café in Johnston St, Byron Bay.

Since Mr Harris' last court appearance in Byron on 10 July, police have dropped two of the charges: of having a knife, which was 3cm long and on a key ring, and being in possession of money alleged to be stolen. Rusty was about to use the money to buy a water alkaline and ionising machine for healing purposes.

At next week's appearance, Mr Harris, represented by solicitor Ralph James, will continue to challenge the legality and manner of the sniffer dog search and the evidence of snigger dog handler Snr Constable Colleen Bolton. Mr Harris says police did not identify themselves before the sniffer dog search, and will argue the dog lifting his testicles was a 'trespass on his person'.

"Under the NSW Labor Government we have seen the overriding of a court finding in Sydney that the use of sniffer dogs constituted an illegal search," said Mr Harris, a primary producer from Barkers Vale.

He and his supporters will be protesting against sniffer dog searches which they say are a violation of basic civil liberties and human rights. There have been no sniffer dog searches by police in the Byron Bay area since Mr Harris began contesting the legality of the searches.

"The police claim they are only doing their job, but our experience is that these operations create more harm than they reduce, and that the police have other motives and are selective in who they search," Mr Harris said.

"We say that the real intention is to intimidate and criminalise people and to create fodder for their Drug War jails. We say the sniffer dog searches select the 'soft' targets of the poor and the marginalised."

At every court appearance to date a rally has been held in support of Rusty Harris, to protest against the use of sniffer dogs and support the re-legalisation of hemp. Past rallies have been well attended, colourful and peaceful protests with music, dancing, and a feeling of solidarity.

"With each court adjournment, the support for me and the cause has grown, and so too the circles and networks of friendships," Mr Harris said.

The Free Hemp Awareness Festival to coincide with Rusty's 13th court appearance will be held in Railway Park Byron Bay from 9.30am till sunset. This promises to be the biggest rally yet, with bands to include Earth Reggae, One 4 One, Monkey and the Fish, and Bo Kaan, as well as Bundjalung dancers and more. The event will also be supported by the Chai Tent providing free chai and cakes, as well as various stalls and hemp exhibitions.

Media contact: Hemp Embassy in Nimbin Ph: 66 891842, or see Rusty Harris' website: www.nimbinaustralia.com/rusty.

PM'S POT JOKES SHAME CANADIANS, U.S. DRUG CZAR SAYS

by Sheldon Alberts
10 Oct 2003
Calgary Herald

The White House's drug czar lashed out Thursday at Jean Chretien for relaxing marijuana laws and said Canadians are "ashamed" over the prime minister's recent jokes about smoking pot when he retires.

John Walters, director of the National Drug Control Policy Office, said Chretien was irresponsible when he said last week that he might try marijuana when he leaves office in February.

Canadians "are concerned about the behaviour of their prime minister, joking that he is going to use marijuana in his retirement," Walters said to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"They're ashamed."

Canada is "the one place in the hemisphere where things are going the wrong ( way ) rapidly," Walters added. "It's the only country in this hemisphere that's become a major drug producer instead of reducing their drug production."

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, who is shepherding the federal government's marijuana legislation through the Commons, responded that Walters should "look in his own backyard" before criticizing Chretien.

"There are over 10 states that have in place what we call alternative penalties, so . . . if it is not correct to move in that direction, maybe he should spend some time talking to his own states."

Walters' criticisms of Chretien came following an effort by the PM to make light of his government's controversial decriminalization legislation.

During an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, Chretien said he had never tested marijuana, but might once decriminalization legislation is approved.

"I don't know what is marijuana. Perhaps I will try it when it will no longer be criminal," he said. "I will have money for my fine and a joint in the other hand."

Jim Munson, Chretien's director of communications, declined to comment on Walters' claim Canadians are ashamed of their leader.

"I am not going to get into those kind of comments. I mean, they have their point of view and we have our point of view," Munson said.

Chretien, while joking about his own lack of personal experience with marijuana, also spoke about the need to crack down on growers and dealers of pot, Munson said.

The bill was handed Thursday to a special parliamentary committee, instead of the busy Commons justice committee, which would not be able to hold public hearings on the legislation until after Christmas.

Randy White, a Canadian Alliance MP on the special committee, said members do not intend to rush the bill. The Americans will be among the witnesses who will be invited to the hearings.

"We don't need any particular approval from Americans to do this, but we have to understand that this is a touchy issue on the borders," White said Thursday during a quick one-hour debate on the bill in the Commons.

"We will be inviting the Americans here to talk to us and we want to see what their point of view is. There is little point in developing a process in this country when we offend everybody south of us."

The Canadian Alliance supports decriminalization of five grams or less.

The marijuana bill proposes to decriminalize possession of 15 grams or less, so that people would be fined from $100 to $400 instead of receiving criminal records. But it also seeks to strengthen penalties against marijuana grow operations.

The federal government, which is under intense pressure to toughen its bill, is seriously considering several amendments. They are:

- - Lowering the amount of pot that would escape criminal charges to 10 grams from the current proposal of 15;

- - Imposing criminal sanctions instead of fines on people who are repeatedly caught with pot;

- - Adding a minimum mandatory sentence for people convicted of running grow operations. The current bill proposes doubling the maximum penalties, but critics say this is useless because judges seldom impose the top sentence.

Cauchon also told the Commons that he is working on a roadside test to detect drug use of drivers.

The government wants to amend the Criminal Code to allow police to collect roadside blood, saliva or urine samples. However, the change, which could raise concerns over the constitutional rights of Canadians, is not expected to be ready in time to be included in the current bill.

Canada: Court To Issue Ruling On Government-Supplied Pot

Newshawk: CMAP ( http://www.mapinc.org/cmap )
Pubdate: Tue, 07 Oct 2003
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2003 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: mailto:letters@freepress.mb.ca
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Gillian Livingston, Canadian Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm(Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

COURT TO ISSUE RULING ON GOVERNMENT-SUPPLIED POT

TORONTO -- Canadians who are allowed to use medicinal marijuana could be forced to buy their medicine from the black market if the Ontario Court of Appeal rules today that the federal government doesn't have to provide pot to critically ill people.

Alison Myrden, one of the litigants in the case, said the issue of having a legal supply of marijuana is "critical" for her because the drug -- which she takes instead of more than 30 pills and morphine -- helps her deal with the pain of chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and other ailments.

Myrden said she hasn't yet applied to receive the government-grown marijuana due to quality concerns.

So far, the pot being grown in Flin Flon by a company on contract to the government hasn't had good reviews.

In today's ruling, the Ontario court could force the government to continue supplying pot to medicinal users, while allowing it to uphold the laws prohibiting pot possession.

The court could also rule the government doesn't have to provide a legal source of pot to medicinal users, and continue to prohibit possession of the drug. That would mean that people approved to use the drug would have to turn to an illegal source. Another possibility is the court ruling that the laws prohibiting marijuana possession are unconstitutional and hurt those who use pot for medical reasons.

The appeal stems from a case in January in which Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman ruled it was unfair for the federal government to allow people to use medicinal marijuana but put them in a position where they have to buy it from the black market because Ottawa doesn't provide legal access to cannabis.

Lederman gave the government a July 9 deadline to either fix the regulations or supply the pot itself. As a result, the government instituted an interim policy where it supplies pot at set prices to approved users.

CANADIAN PRESCRIPTION POT PROVIDERS

Pubdate: Thu, 09 Oct 2003
Source: Monday Magazine (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Monday Publications
Contact: mailto:editorial@monday.com
Website: http://mondaymag.com/monday/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1150
Author: Andrew MacLeod
Cited: Vancouver Island Compassion Society http://www.thevics.com/
Canadians for Safe Access http://www.safeaccess.ca/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Philippe+Lucas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

PRESCRIPTION POT PROVIDERS

Victoria's Two Medical Marijuana Outlets Carry On Despite Raids

On a Friday afternoon, the Vancouver Island Compassion Society's downtown street-front office is lively, with half a dozen or so people taking a turn of a few minutes each in the back room with Robin, a wiry-looking man with glasses and hair in a pony tail. Potted plants, worn but comfortable seating, and a coffee table spread with magazines make the waiting area feel a lot like any other alternative health clinic. But after the clients have been served and shuffled out into
the street, and after passing through the curtain for a tour, you're hit by a pungent, slightly skunky smell.

The four-year-old VICS provides hash and several kinds of marijuana in a variety of forms--buds, cookies, tinctures--to some 340 members. Just a couple of blocks away, Victoria's other big local supplier of medical marijuana, the eight-year-old Cannabis Buyers Club, formerly known as Ted's Books, provides a similarly wide variety of products to some 1,200 clients.

Depending on a person's illness, and how their body reacts, each finds a product that works for them, says Philippe Lucas, the VICS executive director. Each client has a recommendation from a doctor saying cannabis may help with some of their symptoms, usually suggesting it for relieving pain or nausea. The club has worked with over 100 local physicians, which Lucas says is evidence that many front-line doctors recognize the herb's benefits for people with illnesses like AIDS,
cancer, multiple sclerosis or hepatitis C.

But despite that doctor-level acceptance, the Canadian Medical Association doesn't seem to want physicians involved in prescribing pot, says Lucas, and Health Canada doesn't seem to be serious about providing access to the plant, either. The government recently released pot from plants grown by Prairie Plant Systems in an old mine near Flin Flon, Manitoba, which Lucas' advocacy group, Canadians for Safe Access, characterized as "weak, non-organic and potentially unsafe."

In particular, they said, the government-issue mari-juana had lower levels of the active ingredient THC than did a sample supplied by VICS. The government sample also had higher levels of lead and arsenic. Says Lucas, "I'm recommending Health Canada stop the distribution of this cannabis, which is only going out to a dozen people anyway, until they can show it's safe."

The low quality gives the impression that Health Canada is providing marijuana because the courts say it has to, says Lucas, not because it's serious about supplying people with marijuana as a medicine.

That leaves patients with a limited choice: they can use the quasi-legal suppliers like VICS and the CBC, or try their luck on the streets. But as Georgia Sue Winnacott-Allan, a retired nurse who was at the Compassion Club buying medicine for her partner, says, "I feel it's undignified for a woman in her mid-50s to be going downtown to buy marijuana." For her, VICS and the CBC, where she sits on the board, are the only choice.

But even these groups have a tenuous relationship with the local police. VICS was raided once at a previous location in Oak Bay, but they fought a landmark case that saw marijuana and money returned to Lucas and the club in the end. Over at the CBC, where the "Ted's Books" sign is no longer in the window, they've been raided a total of five times, including four times in one six-month period.

"The police have learned it might be illegal what the club's doing, but it's not wrong," says Smith, who adds that his bail conditions--he was busted for trafficking in 2002--prohibit him from being directly involved in the club's work. He's heard things have been quieter in the last eight months, he says, but the raids left the CBC $35,000 in debt to suppliers, at times making it difficult to maintain the trust necessary to keep the medicine flowing through the store.

While the CBC has had more trouble with the police, Smith says many of the problems were brought on by clients doing "stupid things" like reselling marijuana bought at the club, or smoking in public and then telling the cops where their pot came from.

The CBC provides marijuana to anyone who can prove they have a condition for which Health Canada says the plant is appropriate, whether the patient has a doctor's recommendation or not. That belief in wide access has led to a large clientele, many of whom live in poverty and may not have seen a doctor in years.

"I know Ted's organization helps out a lot of people who're really sick, and I'd like to see the city allow them to keep doing that," says Lucas, who says that no matter how careful an outlet is, you
can't control what people do once they've left your office. "We know beer and cigarettes are getting out to our 16-year-olds. We're not blaming the retail distribution system."

Both VICS and the CBC walk a line between providing a quiet service for sick people and being public advocates for medical marijuana, an issue that easily blurs into being advocates for the full-scale decriminalization of the plant. Yet they've chosen somewhat different lines--Smith is more of an in-your-face activist, while Lucas positions the VICS as a centre for research. From time to time, the two have have stepped on each other's toes, but in the end the clubs are largely complementary, and share similar goals. As Smith says, "In many ways it's good to have the two clubs, especially if [Lucas is] bugging all the bureaucrats."

LIMBAUGH: I'M ADDICTED TO PAINKILLERS

LIMBAUGH: I'M ADDICTED TO PAINKILLERS

Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who has spent years campaigning vigorously against drug use, acknowledged Friday that he himself is addicted to painkillers, and that he would immediately check into a treatment center for 30 days to try to break the habit.

(Rush Limbaugh is to US radio what Alan Jones is to Australian radio and Rush Limbaugh has always supported the War Against Drugs.

When people like Rush Limbaugh are found to have a drug problem themselves, they invariably head for help from a health professional rather than turning themselves in to the local jail house, even though they may have recommended a tough no nonsense approach for countless others before.

Even so, the strength of the arguments for or against drug law reform should be judged on the arguments themselves rather than the strengths or frailties of those who support or oppose the War Against Drugs. )

Limbaugh, who also acknowledged that he is involved in a police investigation into distribution of black market medications in Palm Beach County, Fla., said he began using the painkillers after spinal surgery in 1996. He still has pain in his lower back and neck, he said.

"Rather than opt for additional surgery for these conditions," he said, "I chose to treat the pain with prescribed medication. This medication turned out to be highly addictive."

Last week, shortly after he was forced to resign from ESPN for making racially charged comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, it was alleged that Limbaugh had illegally purchased thousands of painkillers such as Oxycontin. Some of these medications have been connected with severe hearing loss, and in 2001 Limbaugh was fitted with an implanted hearing device after suddenly losing his hearing.

Limbaugh, whose midday talk show is heard locally on WABC/770 AM, said on his broadcast Friday that he took complete responsibility for his situation. "I make no excuses," he said. "I am no victim and do not portray myself as such."

He differentiated himself, however, from celebrities and athletes who returned from drug treatment "to great fanfare and praise for conquering great demons. They are said to be great role models and examples for others. Well, I am no role model here. I refuse to let anyone think I am doing anything great here. . ."

Limbaugh also said that published reports about his addiction have inaccuracies and distortions which he will clarify when he is able to speak about them.

The name of the treatment center was not released. Limbaugh spokesman Allan Mayer said, "Even if I did know, I wouldn't be telling you."
Limbaugh had told Premiere Radio Networks, his syndicator, about his plans several days ago, Mayer said.

Limbaugh, long a fiery opponent of drug use, has wavered over strategy. On Dec. 9, 1993, he told his listeners, "I'm appalled at people who simply want to look at all this abhorrent behavior and say people are going to do drugs anyway, let's legalize it. It's a dumb idea. It's a rotten idea and those who are for it are purely 100 percent selfish."

But on March 12, 1998, he said, "It seems to me that what is missing in the drug fight is legalization. If we want to go after drugs with the same fervor and intensity with which we go after cigarettes, let's legalize drugs. Legalize the manufacture of drugs. License the Cali Cartel, make them taxpayers and then sue them. Sue them left and right and then get control of the price and generate tax revenue from it."

Limbaugh is far from the first figure who moralized about behavior and then was found to commit activities for which he condemns others. Last spring, moral crusader William J. Bennett "walked away from gambling" because he had reportedly lost millions in casinos.

Stuart Fischoff, a professor of media psychology at the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., said, "It is very possible for someone to take the high ground while addicted, and then moralize about people using the less noble drugs, recreational drugs or even heroin. He kind of compartmentalizes, rationalizes to save his political and social point of view while nonetheless admitting he had a fall from grace."

Joseph A. Califano Jr., former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare, and now chairman and president of Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, released a statement saying, "I wish him well as he seeks treatment, and I hope that his example ending his denial, admitting his addiction and seeking treatment will encourage others suffering from the same affliction to do the same."

A series of guest hosts will fill in for Limbaugh while he is off the air.

Western Australia: Assets Law Could Become Liability

Newshawk: Niall Young
Pubdate: Sat, 11 Oct 2003
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2003 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact: mailto:letters@wanews.com.au
Website: http://www.thewest.com.au
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495
Author: Sean Cowan

ASSETS LAW COULD BECOME LIABILITY

WA'S tough criminal property confiscation laws could be headed for a raft of High Court challenges.

The laws, passed three years ago, are considered the toughest in the country, stripping millions of dollars of assets mainly from convicted drug dealers.

But a High Court challenge to the previous laws could force the State Government to review several parts of the current legislation or fight off constitutional challenges.

In December, the full bench of the High Court will hear an appeal against the since-repealed WA confiscation law which saw the State take $250,000 from a dead man. Stephen Retteghy was charged after police raided his Guilderton property in 1996 and found almost 600 cannabis plants, more than 30kg of harvested cannabis and a diary detailing drug sales.

He pleaded not guilty to drug dealing and was committed to stand trial, but died of cancer aged 67.Under the old Crimes (Confiscation of Profits) Act, a dead man was taken to have absconded. In the eyes of the law, this meant he could be considered guilty and his assets could be forfeited.Lawyers for the executor of Mr Retteghy's estate have asked the High Court to find the law unconstitutional because the dead man effectively had been found guilty without trial. The Criminal Property Confiscation Act 2000 includes a similar provision.

University of Notre Dame law lecturer Ben Clarke said the action could spark several constitutional challenges. Other cases include the confiscation of a pensioner's Yangebup property.

While Graham Smith could prove he had paid legitimately for the home over 17 years, it was forfeited because he had grown 20 cannabis plants in his backyard. He was declared a drug trafficker - which entitled the State to seize his assets.

Multi-millionaire Matthew Telling kept his assets after pleading guilty to possessing 16g of ecstasy, but if he had had 12 more he would have been declared a trafficker, despite his wealth being inherited.

Emergency Response: Come support Sister Somayah and all
medical Marijuana patients

On Thursday Oct 9th Sister Somayah was raided by the DEA in her home in Los Angeles. Over 40 patients and caregivers are currently facing federal prosecution.

Our new governor is meeting with George Bush sometime next week. We are holding a press conference at Arnold's office in Santa Monica on Tuesday Oct 14th at 10:00 am asking Arnold to fulfill his campaign promise of supporting medical marijuana and to ask Bush to back off.

What: A press conference followed by a visit to the office staff
When: Tuesday Oct 14th 10:00 am
Where: 3110 Main St (Marine is the cross street) in Santa Monica
Who: Medical marijuana patients and those who support an end to the federal
attacks

There is $3 parking on Marine a block away from Main St (the block away from
the ocean). Funds are available to help pay for parking.

Prosecuting the pot Doctor

Prosecuting the pot doctor:
Berkeley medical marijuana specialist will lose his license if the drug warriors get their way
By Ann Harrison

The Medical Board of California receives complaints against about 11,000 doctors every year, most of them generated by unhappy patients. But no patients have yet suggested they were harmed by Dr. Tod Mikuriya, California's foremost medical-community proponent of medical marijuana. In the board's current investigation of Mikuriya, all the accusations against him have been generated by law enforcement.

Mikuriya, 70, a Berkeley-based psychiatrist and author of widely read books and papers on therapeutic cannabis, has been accused by the Medical Board of "extreme departure from the standard of care" in 16 of his 7,500 medical cannabis recommendations permitted under the
1996 Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215). Mikuriya is one of nine doctors being investigated by the Medical Board who together have written more than half the estimated 50,000 medical marijuana recommendations in California.

In a series of hearings in Oakland last month, prosecutors from the state Attorney General's Office tried to prove the complaints against Mikuriya, which include negligence, incompetence, and furnishing dangerous drugs without prior examination. The doctor charges that he is the target of malicious prosecution by rogue law enforcement officers who are seeking to undermine California's medical marijuana laws.

"Coming here is really quite dishonest because none of the patients have complained," Mikuriya said during his hearing. "They have all come from sorehead law enforcement people who could not prosecute and get me in their jurisdiction, and they have used the Medical Board apparatus to get back at me."

Medical Board spokesperson Candis Cohen told the Bay Guardian she could not comment on the motivation of law enforcement in Mikuriya's case. But she acknowledged that "different views are held by different agencies regarding the validity of medical marijuana." Cohen said the board itself takes no position regarding the efficacy of medical cannabis.

But the California Narcotics Officers Association couldn't be clearer about how its members feel. "Marijuana is not a medicine," the group says on its Web site, and there is "no justification" for using it as such.

Cops play doctor

In an apparent attempt to assume the role of doctors in determining just who is sick enough to use medical marijuana, California law enforcement officers targeted 48 of Mikuriya's patients in eight
counties for arrest and investigation. Records for 45 of these patients were subpoenaed from Mikuriya, and 16 were examined.

"These persons do not appear to have any serious medical problems," Sgt. Steve Mason of the Nevada Sheriff's Department Narcotics Task Force Office wrote in Mikuriya's investigation report.

"The recommendations were issued not for a medical purpose, but as an excuse for their otherwise criminal possession, transportation and/or sale of a Schedule 1 drug," the report summary reads.

Despite these allegations, the deputy attorneys general who prosecuted Mikuriya's case determined that testimony concerning interaction with law enforcement was irrelevant. Mikuriya charged in turn that they were holdovers from former state attorney general Dan Lungren's administration, which vigorously opposed Prop. 215.

Prosecutors Larry Mercer and Jane Simon argued that the investigations should focus entirely on medical practice standards, the focus of most of the Medical Board's 2,000 pending cases.
Presiding administrative law Judge Jonathan Lew largely agreed.

"The defense has attempted to try a case other than the one we charged," Mercer said. "Regardless of the motivation of the complainant, a physician will only be disciplined if he or she has violated the Medical Practice Act.... This case is about if Dr. Mikuriya provided good medical care."

"If we appeal this ruling to the Superior Court, it will be overturned," Mikuriya's attorney Susan Lea countered. "We were not allowed to bring in relevant facts."

What standards of care?

The Medical Board released a statement in January 1997 announcing that since marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act, "no objective standard exists for evaluating the medical rationale for its use." But the statement also says, "there are certain standards that always apply to a physician's practice that may be applied."

The prosecution's expert witness, Kaiser HMO psychiatrist Laura Duskin, does not recommend medical cannabis and declined to interview Mikuriya's patients. But based on her review of their records, Duskin alleged that the psychiatrist failed to conduct adequate physical exams, specify treatment plans, order tests, and adequately document his cases. "From day one in medical school they teach us 'If you don't write it down, it didn't happen,' " she testified.

But nine patients who testified on Mikuriya's behalf said the doctor carefully reviewed their medical histories and dispensed caring advice during his 15- to 20-minute exams. Many were visibly sick and brought records from other doctors confirming their illnesses. All were self-medicating with cannabis when they came to see Mikuriya. They included a man who said he had exhausted all other medical options for his disabling nausea. He said Mikuriya was the one doctor
who took the time to thoroughly discuss his illness.

"When you call Kaiser, a nurse takes your info, and they call you back, and you pick up some medicines," said the patient, who, due to medical concerns, was identified only by the initials R. B.

Mikuriya contested the charge that he failed to perform adequate physical exams on patients. While he frequently does not touch patients or take their vital signs, the psychiatrist said he
carefully observes their physical demeanor, asks them to fill out a research questionnaire, and relies heavily on their self-reported symptoms.

Edward W. Miller M.D., a retired cardiac and thoracic surgeon and family practitioner from Marin County, notes that the type of scrutiny Mikuriya is undergoing is not applied to doctors who cut corners due to the demands of managed care. "If I go to Kaiser, I'm lucky to have five minutes with my urologist," Miller told us, adding that he was surprised to hear that Mikuriya still does house calls.
"The care that he took, that has disappeared from medicine under this grab for the buck."

Lying patient

Testimony against Mikuriya by Steve Gossett, an undercover deputy sheriff, showed that doctors can be lied to. Gossett, who heads Sonoma County's marijuana investigations unit, traveled to Oakland medical marijuana clinic Marijuana Referral Services in January and lied about a shoulder injury, stress, and sleep disorder to secure a cannabis recommendation from Mikuriya.

Gossett testified that he was coached through his intake form by a clinic staffer and later offered free samples of cannabis. John Fleer, an attorney for Mikuriya's malpractice carrier, Norcal
Insurance, says Mikuriya was not aware of these actions, nor legally responsible for them. The psychiatrist, whose patients have a number of self-reported conditions such as migraine and back pain, says he assumes patients are truthful.

Prop. 215 permits doctors to recommend cannabis for any illness for which marijuana provides relief - a clause Mikuriya wrote into the bill. But Dr. Philip Denney M.D., a family practitioner from Loomis, testified during the hearing that the Medical Board was attempting to enforce a set of standards against Mikuriya that do not yet exist. Denney, who recommends medical cannabis, argued that Mikuriya is conducting a "medical cannabis consultation practice," a new model of
care that strictly determines whether patients have a medical condition for which cannabis might be a useful treatment.

At the California Medical Association convention last March, Mikuriya offered a proposal for "minimum practice standards" for medical cannabis providers. Denney criticized the Medical Board for failing to embrace these guidelines, despite Mikuriya's repeated requests.

Denney added that he was "scared to death" by the possibility of reprisals from law enforcement for testifying on Mikuriya's behalf. But he disputed the Medical Board's classification of cannabis as a "dangerous drug" and determined that Mikuriya had sufficient documentation to justify his cannabis recommendations.

What's next?

Cohen said the Medical Board and the CMA are currently "fleshing out" guidelines on medical cannabis practitioners. But if Judge Lew suggests the revocation of Mikuriya's medical license, the decision could have a chilling effect on the willingness of physicians to recommend cannabis for their patients - the key to upholding Prop. 215.

Fearful of reprisal, only about 15 California doctors are willing to go public now with their medical cannabis recommendations. But asked by Lew if he would be willing to modify his practice to conform to a set standard of care, Mikuriya answered, "Yes! And I have some ideas."

Lew will issue a proposed decision on Mikuriya's case by the end of the year, which will be voted on by the Medical Board.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS!