The slogan “WE’ED like to be your doctor” has attracted hundreds of medical marijuana patients in less than a year to Bodo Schneider’s clinics in Illinois.
Anthony Anzalone has a similar following at his New Jersey clinics, marketed with a marijuana leaf logo and a “DrMarijuanaNJ” Web address.
The two doctors in states with similar laws face starkly different treatment by government regulators. When it comes to oversight of doctors, enforcement practices vary in the 23 states allowing medical cannabis.
STARK DIFFERENCES
Schneider, a former emergency room doctor, might get his license revoked in a medical board case that begins tomorrow.
Accused of charging patients for marijuana recommendations without a legitimate doctor-patient relationship, he is the third Illinois physician to face punishment related to medical marijuana in a state where legal sales only started this month.
“I understand why they don’t want everybody and their uncle opening up a marijuana stand, but I think the regulators have gone after a very high percentage of the people who have tried to use this law at all. It’s over-aggressive,” Schneider’s attorney, Luke Baumstark, said.
New Jersey has taken no disciplinary action against Anzalone, a gynecologist, or any other doctor related to medical marijuana since sales started three years ago, according to Jeff Lamm, spokesman for the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners.
“The state’s been very good to me,” Anzalone said in a telephone interview. “We’re complying with the law as best we can... All I’m doing is the job other doctors don’t want to do.”
Such doctors fill a void left by physicians unfamiliar with marijuana’s health benefits and fearful of endorsing what the federal government regards as a controlled substance, cannabis advocates say.
Schneider is a “godsend to patients” in southern Illinois, where two major healthcare organizations actively prevent their doctors from recommending marijuana, said Dan Linn, of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
‘BONA FIDE’
Writing a law to restrict how doctors recommend marijuana is tricky. Laws commonly call for a bona fide relationship, with a physical exam and review of medical records.
New Jersey doctors must register in a publicly viewable database and take courses in addiction medicine and pain management.
Colorado physicians are barred from working out of dispensaries or having any financial stake in the marijuana business. As in other states, they are required to examine patients in person once a year.
The Colorado Medical Board said it has sanctioned at least six physicians since 2009 for violating pot regulations, although details of those cases are not public.
California, which was the first to legalize medical cannabis, has disciplined only eight doctors in 20 years for improper marijuana recommendations.
However, the state’s laid-back approach might change. It recently enacted legislation to require the Medical Board of California to crack down on doctors who write recommendations without a proper patient exam or valid medical reason.
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