Last updated : November 11, 2024
Doctors pledge to heal and reject harm and mischief, yet some flaunt the professional oath they observe when they prescribe drugs with little legitimate medical use for illegitimate medical needs. In the case of medical marijuana, it’s not just a joke or sitcom cliché that some physicians will write a script for just about anything as long as you’re willing to pay.
Not all the blame falls squarely on the doctors, of course. Politicians have used pot’s allure for political gain and state and local governments have made it far too easy to find loopholes under the guise that making it easily available is helping people in need and enforcement is the job of police.
Easy money
Take Illinois for example. Less than a month into new rules, doctors were already finding themselves in trouble, one for reportedly taking money for prescriptions without having a doctor-patient relationship. In California, a pot doctor made ten million dollars in five years for prescribing pot to people who probably didn’t need it and some who may have been hurt by it. Pot doctors see one to two patients every ten minutes in California. Medical professionals assert that health professionals need 30 minutes minimum to properly diagnose a patient, and that ten minutes is likely a token amount of time. The point is to sell prescriptions as quickly as they can write them.
In Washington, abuses abound. Former medical marijuana prescribing doctors have called such clinics “marijuana mills” despite having the drug available for recreational use. In Seattle, like it would be in Denver, it’s a way for some users to save money on the high and heavy recreational taxes. If a doctor can charge between $100 and $150 a patient, all that’s needed for the doctor to sign off is something as simple as a headache. The waiting rooms in pot mills are reportedly packed with buyers. It’s no wonder waiting rooms are packed.
It’s still illegal
While 23 States have “legalized” marijuana use for medical cases or recreational use, the federal government still classifies it as a dangerous drug. State laws are deferred to until it becomes an interstate matter or when the offenses take place on federal lands, but enforcement increasingly lacks punch. In the meantime, lax oversight of the regulations has led some doctors to prescribe marijuana knowingly to recreational users under a medical-need pretense, without any medical problem. In Colorado, a doctor used an old, healed injury to prescribe marijuana to a man who admitted he wanted marijuana for recreational use. Doctors still prescribe medical marijuana to recreational users aged 18-21 because of restrictions under Colorado law. There is also evidence that doctors prescribe to people simply to help them avoid the higher recreational use taxes.
Examples to be made
The state of Colorado has precious few examples to point to where enforcement catches a doctor. One such case involved a doctor selling to undercover police without performing any of the required tests. The result was a month in jail and being stripped of his medical license. There haven’t been many cases, and reporting has shown it’s not simply because it’s not happening. As efforts to decriminalize the drug spread throughout the country and laws in the earliest adopting states become more and more lenient, doctors willing to compromise their professional reputation for a buck may be simply striking while the iron is hot.
