| High Country Caregiver |
Colorado patients whose medical marijuana authorizations were signed by physician’s assistants have been told by the state’s public health department that they should have been examined by doctors, not assistants. And as punishment, patients will have to wait six months before they can apply again for medicinal cannabis.
Yes, really!
“This delay will undoubtedly anger many patients who’ve already been waiting for months to get their red card renewed,” reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword, “and all because a number of doctors are accused of failing to conduct examinations themselves, thereby rendering their recommendations ‘fraudulent.’ “
More than 4,200 medical marijuana registry applications are on hold after law officers observed potential patients being seen by someone other than a doctor, reports the Coloradoan. The health department said it will contact doctors listed on suspected forms to verify that they personally conducted examinations of the patients in question.
Amendment 20, which legalized medical marijuana in Colorado, calls for examinations by physicians, and SB 109, passed by the state Legislature last year, requires a bonafide doctor-patient relationship (as opposed to one in which physicians merely sign a recommendation for a fee).
The question is, Why punish patients for doctors’ mistakes? Why make them wait an additional six months?
“Once again, those who will be inconvenienced by this situation are patients who have obtained medical marijuana recommendations to treat genuine health concerns,” editorialized the Coloradoan.
Does the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment believe that they somehow colluded with the doctors, and therefore deserve to be punished?
“If not, why make patients who have tried to follow the rules in order to obtain medication to treat their ailments go without for half a year?” Westword asks.
Damn good question — especially considering that some of these patients may not be alive in six months.