Thursday, August 26, 2010
HempCon Blasted for Cheap Medical Pot Doctoring
Health & Medicine David Downs — Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 10:21 AM
Doctors, patients, and industry are bashing the organizers of HempCon, which took place August 6-8 in San Jose, for running a de facto medical marijuana prescription mill out of the trade show. Eyewitnesses noted long lines of young adults without medical records quickly processed by seven or eight doctors for $40 per person.
“I would consider one doctor a prescription mill. This was seven or eight. My best way to describe it was a price war,” said attendee Bob Katzman.
HempCon organizers Mega Productions — noted for running tattoo and porn expos out of Los Angeles — declined to comment.
The Medical Board of California tells doctors to treat marijuana like they would any other drug, and recommend it only after a good faith examination. According to noted physician Dr. Frank Lucido, that would include looking at the patient's history, coming up with a treatment plan with objectives, and discussing side effects. Such an exam can take 30 to 45 minutes, a much slower tempo than what was apparent at HempCon.
"What you saw was a thousand people holding clipboards and forms, moving in and out of line so fast it was hard to imagine [the doctors] were doing a proper job. I just really don't," said Jeremiah Schimp, spokesperson for Weedtracker.com and a HempCon visitor.
“There's a likelihood that it skirts acceptable medical guidelines set out by the state medical board,” said Kris Hermes, spokesperson for medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access. “Arguably, they're making a mockery of their own role in the medical profession and the medical cannabis community may suffer as a result of these specialists cutting corners.”
No one is getting hurt by loose recommendations, counters Pierre Werner, cavalier operator of Dr. Reefer out of Las Vegas. He thinks evaluations should get easier across the country.
“There's no real reason you should have a full check-up,” Werner says. “It's no different than your doctor recommending you eat well, have a good diet, and get plenty of rest.”
Werner's an ex-con who says cannabis helps control his bipolar and schizophrenia symptoms. He employs a couple doctors in Vegas who see patients for five to fifteen minutes, at $200 per patient. Warner charges an extra $100 if a customer lacks medical records, with the added cost going to a physical examination.
Dr. Reefer physicians make $4,000 for eight hours of work and business is booming. Werner is setting up remote locations where his doctors can work via web conferencing software Skype.
Back in California, Lucido says, “I don't think much of that.” Cannabis might never kill a patient, but a lax diagnosis can.
Lucido recalls a male in his twenties who sought a marijuana recommendation to treat asthma and anxiety. Lucido listened to his heart and lungs, and noted a thyroid mass on his neck. He gave the patient a three-month recommendation for cannabis and requested his primary doctor feel his thyroid. The thyroid mass turned out to be cancer that had spread to the lungs.
“No one has been killed by marijuana, but when you're prescribing marijuana for the wrong thing you could be missing something more serious,” Lucido says.
Generally, people hate going to the doctor, and a weed-driven visit is a chance to engage in preventative medicine. The ASA recommends that patients who want medical marijuana broach the topic with their primary doctor. Hermes says even some Kaiser doctors have recommended it.
But Lucido recommends the opposite. Don't bring up marijuana with your primary care physician, he says, and if you do, ask to “go off the record” first.
“Sometimes you get patients asking their doctor for a recommendation of cannabis and the doctor will turn around and write 'cannabis user' in their files,” Lucido says. “As long as there's a drug war going on, patients have a valid reason not to have cannabis mentioned in their records.”
That confusion may be driving business to fly-by-night recommendation mills. Such mills are increasingly operating out of convention spaces and contributing to a collapse in the price of recommendations, says HempCon attendee Katzman.
Katzman is a businessman who runs the well-reviewed International Cannabis & Hemp Expo. There's at least fifteen weed expos in California this year varying in quality from some that are borderline academic conferences to others that are little more than weed fairs.
- A HempCon attendee talks to HempFusionTV
Doctor's recommendations have dropped in California from over $200 a few years ago to $100 to $150 today, he says. Katzman's Expo will support one doctor who charges $99 per visit, and they take the doctoring seriously.
“Otherwise it makes the whole movement seem invalid,” Katzman said. “There's a lot of people who question the actual legitimacy of medical cannabis.”
Allergic to opioids, cancer survivor and activist Angel Raich uses cannabis to deal with excruciating pain as she recovers from major head surgery. Raich says HempCon erodes gains by patients and contributes to the suffering of people who actually need the plant.
“It's definitely not helping anybody and it shouldn't be happening,” Raich says. “It makes all us real patients look like a joke and that makes me mad.”
Mega Productions plans to include marijuana evaluation services at another HempCon in Southern California on September 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
xmorgan says "I believe the money from taxes will rival alcohol."
Correct, taxpayers can't afford the public costs of alcohol problems either.... $8 dollars paid by taxpayers for every $1 collected in taxes. Classic case of negative externality, neither non-users or the sick can afford the expansion of recreational drugs use, practically speaking pot is currently legal, maybe we should tax recreational users with a big fee for a county ID card to get access to medical pot.
"The current healthcare and criminal justice costs associated with alcohol and tobacco far surpass the tax revenue they generate, and very little of the taxes collected on these substances is contributed to offsetting their substantial social and health costs. For every dollar society collects in taxes on alcohol, for example, we end up spending eight more in social costs. That is hardly a recipe for fiscal health."
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Legalize it, get the government out of our lives. The tax thing is a joke though.
I believe the money from taxes will rival alcohol. Those that make the argument about everyone will grow their own. You can grow good pot at home, but it takes time and effort. To make really good pot, you have to invest in learning and equipment. But if you can run down to the store and buy good pot, why grow?
They legalized home brewing of beer right? You can make good beer at home, but it takes time and effort. I brew and I make great beer. But I still buy beer, I still go to the bar and drink good beer.
Hi guys, Matthew Fox with mega productions here. Im going to weigh in on this once and only once. First of all, we are a professional trade show company. We are not a bunch of stoners trying to put on a trade show. We are a professional trade show company, bringing a high quality event to one of the only remaining growth industries in America. I would like to point out a few tidbits of information right now. First of all, by evaluating at our events you are guaranteed to have some level of vetting for the doctors involved in our event. We take the time to screen each and every physician writing recommendations at our event. We do this to ensure they are valid and not currently suspended for any malpractice/etc. Secondly we DID have an issue on our first Hempcon LA, we had a physician assistant writing out recommendations. For this reason we require all physicians to pre register for the event. If an unregistered physician appears and starts writting recs, we pull the booth. Plain and simple. Now there is only so much we can do to enforce proper examination and documentation. If a physician wishes to leave themselves open to lawsuits due to their own negligence, it is their practice not ours. We do everything we can as a promoter to ensure patients are given a fair shake, and can select from more than a single clinic at our event. Sometimes this leads to a price war. We have made some adjustments for Hempcon LA, and hope it works to the benefit of all. The show, the patients, and the doctors. Hopefully this "CLEARS" up the confusion people are spitting around here. If anyone wishes to contact me directly for a more expanded explanation of our events please give our office a call. 626-961-6522. Ask to speak with me Matthew.
Free2think: you do know that drug czars are REQUIRED BY LAW to lie? That editorial was one big snow job, which you bought.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-c…
Who cares. Let doctors do their work. How the hell do you know they are not sick? Stop practiicing medicine and get back to journalism
Look, it is have been published many times that the primary group of recreational users purchasing medical pot at dispensaries is young males, obviously many folks with serious illness in which med pot is actually a benefit do not necessary appear seriously ill. I have worked in health care for decades, so I am familiar with this reality. While I support medical use of marijuana, this commentary covers many of reasons I do not believe Prop 19 is good for California.
Why California should just say no to Prop. 19
Taxing marijuana sales wouldn't bring in much money because homegrown is tax free, drug officials say. Besides, any revenue would be wiped out by increases in healthcare and criminal justice costs.
August 25, 2010
This commentary was written by Gil Kerlikowske, John Walters, Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown, Bob Martinez and William Bennett, directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the administrations of Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
Californians will face an important decision in November when they vote on whether to legalize marijuana. Proponents of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, rely on two main arguments: that legalizing and taxing marijuana would generate much-needed revenue, and that legalization would allow law enforcement to focus on other crimes. As experts in the field of drug policy, policing, prevention, education and treatment, we can report that neither of these claims withstand scrutiny.
No country in the world has legalized marijuana to the extent envisioned by Proposition 19, so it is impossible to predict precisely the consequences of wholesale legalization. We can say with near certainty, however, that marijuana use would increase if it were legal, because some people now abstain simply because it is illegal.
We also know that increased use brings increased social costs.
Proponents of marijuana legalization often point to Amsterdam's "coffee shop" marijuana sales, rarely mentioning that the Dutch have dramatically reduced what at one time were thousands of shops to only a few hundred — after being inundated with "drug tourists," drug-related organized crime involvement and public nuisance problems. During the period of marijuana commercialization and expansion, there was a tripling of lifetime use rates and a more than doubling of past-month use among 18- to 20-year-olds, according to independent research.
Closer to home, in a nationally representative roadside survey, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 8% of nighttime weekend drivers tested positive for marijuana. The vast majority were tested using an oral swab procedure that makes it highly unlikely that the use occurred more than four hours prior.
A 2004 meta-analysis published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review of studies conducted in several localities showed that between 4% and 14% of drivers who sustained injuries or died in traffic accidents tested positive for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Because marijuana negatively affects drivers' judgment, motor skills and reaction time, it stands to reason that legalizing marijuana would lead to more accidents and fatalities involving drivers under its influence.
Regarding the supposed economic benefits of taxing marijuana, some comparison with two drugs that are already regulated and taxed — alcohol and tobacco — is worth considering. People don't typically grow their own tobacco or distill their own spirits, so consumers accept high taxes on them as retail products. Marijuana, though, is easy and cheap to cultivate, indoors or out, and Proposition 19 would allow individuals to grow as much as 25 square feet of marijuana for "personal consumption."
Why would people volunteer to pay high taxes on marijuana if it were legalized? The answer is that many would not, and the underground market, adapting to undercut any new taxes, would barely diminish at all.
The current healthcare and criminal justice costs associated with alcohol and tobacco far surpass the tax revenue they generate, and very little of the taxes collected on these substances is contributed to offsetting their substantial social and health costs. For every dollar society collects in taxes on alcohol, for example, we end up spending eight more in social costs. That is hardly a recipe for fiscal health.
A recent Rand Corp. report, "Altered State," found that it is difficult to predict estimated revenue from marijuana taxes, and that legalization would increase consumption but could also lead to widespread tax evasion and a "race to the bottom" in terms of local tax rates.
Another pro-legalization argument is that it would free up law enforcement resources to concentrate on "real" crimes. Two of us are former police chiefs, who in our combined careers protected five of America's largest cities, including New York, Houston and Seattle, and served as elected heads of the nation's largest professional police associations. We interacted with tens of thousands of officers, and it is our experience that an overwhelming majority of police professionals does not support legalizing marijuana.
Law enforcement officers do not currently focus much effort on arresting adults whose only crime is possessing small amounts of marijuana. This proposition would burden them with new and complicated enforcement duties. The proposition would require officers to enforce laws against "ingesting or smoking marijuana while minors are present." Would this apply in a private home? And is a minor "present" if they are 15 feet away, or 20? Perhaps California law enforcement officers will be required to carry tape measures next to their handcuffs.
As should be evident, despite the millions spent on marketing the idea, legalized marijuana can't solve California's budget crisis or reduce criminal justice costs. Our combined opposition to this ill-considered scheme spans four different administrations and represents the collective wisdom of a former secretary of Education, a governor, a mayor and teacher, an Army general, a drug policy researcher and two police chiefs. Our opposition to legalizing marijuana is grounded not in ideology but in facts and experience.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
@free@think...I look like a "young healthy male" except for the fact I have stage IV Lymphoma....
I don't agree it is just males...I look like a healthy young male but suffer extreme pain in my neck and back from being struck by a 20,000 pound military vehicle. Just because you can't see someone's disability doesn't mean it isn't there. To many american's are ignorant of Cannabis' uses for treating pain, insomnia, anxiety, and many other disorders that CAN'T be SEEN! Cannabis has helped me live with dignity, relieve my pain, treat my insomnia and anxiety, and let me play with my children again since as I am able to be up and moving pain free! I don't agree that "Doctors" should be handing out recommendations without an exam, but I rather they do it with cannabis as compared to pharmaceuticals...something that happens even more often than with cannabis.
It's no different than the doctors that prescribe prescription drugs to the masses on a daily basis. As soon as the FDA marks the corporate drug dealers toxic concoctions "safe for human consumption", the drugs can be prescribed by any doctor anywhere, and in allot of cases with just a brief medical evaluation (especially if it is Psychosis related).
And as far as "Nothing new there, just stand outside any of the so called dispensaries for 10 minutes and watch the parade of young healthy males."
I would much rather see young males going in and out of a dispensary rather than cruising areas that are unsafe, while looking for drug dealers to purchase their marijuana from (in most cases these areas are gang territory). The fact is Marijuana should be legal, taxed, and controlled like alchohol (YES on Prop 19!) because people will get marijuana anytime they want regardless of the laws. Let's at least make Marijuana safe for those that want to purchase it.
Nothing new there, just stand outside any of the so called dispensaries for 10 minutes and watch the parade of young healthy males.
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