http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/36789_marijuana28.shtml
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
PORTLAND -- Medical marijuana users
yesterday rallied in support of an elderly doctor who has signed 40 percent
of approved applications for medical marijuana and is under investigation
by health officials.
The American Civil Liberties Union
yesterday joined protesters in questioning the legality of tighter state
guidelines for patients who want to use the drug for certain illnesses,
including glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and AIDS.
The new rules were inspired by Dr.
Phillip Leveque, a 77-year-old osteopath who has signed more applications
for medical marijuana than any other doctor under Oregon's 2-year-old medical
marijuana law.
About 935 medical marijuana applications
approved by the state have been signed by Leveque -- in some cases, after
he reviewed faxed medical records and talked to patients by phone.
"Because he's devoted the rest of
his life to help people who need medical marijuana, he's being targeted.
They're holding up 800 applications because Leveque has put himself out
there basically as a patriot," said Pamela Snowhite-Day, a protester who
smokes marijuana every 45 minutes to calm her multiple sclerosis and degenerative
spine disease.
Snowhite-Day was one of about 50
protesters -- mostly marijuana users and their families -- who attended
the rally outside DHS headquarters.
In response to Leveque's practices,
state health officials on Aug. 10 said doctors who sign the applications
must maintain up-to-date medical files on each patient, perform a physical
exam and create a treatment plan.
The DHS asked the Molalla physician
for medical records to verify Leveque had done so for 801 of his patients
who still have applications pending.
Leveque refused to provide the records,
saying that would violate doctor-patient confidentiality.
Now, the DHS is asking Leveque's
patients to waive their privacy rights directly. Patients who refuse will
not be approved for medical marijuana, said Dr. Grant Higginson, DHS state
health officer.
"We're not trying to become more
stringent and make things harder for patients. We are trying to make sure
that people are complying with the law," he said. "We feel we need to see
those records in order to make a determination."
David Fidanque, spokesman for the
Oregon ACLU, said his organization is researching the legality of the state's
latest move, but has not decided on a course of action.
"There's really no indication that
I am aware of that Dr. Leveque has acted improperly. There are suspicions
on the part of the health department, but I don't think there's any hard
evidence," he said.
Fidanque said a state review of patient
records could jeopardize doctors that signed off on the marijuana applications.
It is illegal for a physician to
facilitate or encourage a patient to use a federally controlled substance,
he said.
"If there were notes in the patient
file like 'Discussed marijuana, notified patient that marijuana would be
helpful,' that could conceivably be more likely to get the doctor in trouble,"
Fidanque said.
The new regulations could make already-skittish
physicians even more wary of signing a medical marijuana form, he said.
Many protesters gathered yesterday
said they went to Leveque after their primary doctors refused to sign the
application form.
"The more the government goes on
a fishing expedition into the confidential files of doctors, the more risk
there is to doctors of running afoul of federal law," Fidanque said. "We
are very concerned."
Higginson said the state will use
the records to establish a legitimate patient-doctor relationship and nothing
more.
"We only will review a file if there
is a reason to believe that there may not be a legitimate relationship,"
he said.
"If we were subpoenaed by (the federal
government), than we would fight that very strongly."
©1999-2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS