Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 Source: Anderson Valley Advertiser (CA) Column: Cannabinotes Copyright: 2004 Anderson Valley Advertiser Contact: http://www.theava.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2667 Author: Fred Gardner Note: Read Fred Gardner's columns at http://www.mapinc.org/author/Fred+Gardner Cited: Tod Mikuriya http://www.mikuriya.com/ Cited: Center for Medical Cannabis Research http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/ Cited: International Cannabinoid Research Society http://cannabinoidsociety.org/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mikuriya (Tod Mikuriya) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Schwarzenegger DOCTOR TOD'S ABOVE TRADER JOE'S It was injury added to insult when Tod Mikuriya, MD, fractured a shinbone last month and was unable to attend a fundraising party organized on his behalf by colleagues and friends. The funds are being raised to defray the costs of Mikuriya's prosecution by the Medical Board of California. After a lengthy hearing in September 2003, an administrative law judge found that the Berkeley-based psychiatrist had "violated the standard of care" in approving cannabis use by 16 patients. All the complaints against Mikuriya had come from law enforcement rather than patients or their loved ones. None of the complaints alleged that a patient had been harmed. The Medical Board placed Mikuriya on probation for five years, fined him $75,000, required that his practice be monitored by another doctor, and denied him the right to see patients at his home office. "I've had a permit from the city to see patients here since 1971," Mikuriya said ruefully. "The office is on a separate floor from my residence and has its own entrance..." Mikuriya, 71, has hired an appeals specialist to challenge the Medical Board's verdict in Superior Court. He has resumed practice in a leased "suite" on the second floor of a mall on San Pablo Ave. -513 El Cerrito Plaza-conveniently located above Trader Joe's. Since his leg still can't bear weight (and will be in a cast till September), Mikuriya is being driven to and from work by his assistant, John Trapp. He's seeing patients two or three days a week and trying to stay on the sunny side. "The new office is a short walk from the BART station and the bus stop on San Pablo, and right off the freeway," he says. The phone number is still 510-548-1188. The prospect of being monitored by a colleague was one aspect of his punishment that Mikuriya considered tolerable because Frank Lucido, MD, had agreed to be the monitor. (Monitoring a physician entails reviewing his/her charts every month and discussing procedures as needed.) The Medical Board enforcement officer assigned to supervise Mikuriya's probation, Craig Leader, initially raised no objection to Lucido. But last week Leader phoned Mikuriya to say that the arrangement was unsatisfactory. Mikuriya says he asked why and was told that Lucido "would be biased." [Frank Lucido is a physician in good standing with the Medical Board, has offices in Berkeley, and experience with cannabis-using patients. Anybody who knows him knows that he's conscientious and would take his responsibilities as a monitor seriously.] Mikuriya says,. "I thought it was odd that Leader, after telling me that Frank Lucido would be biased, said 'Oh, and Tom Campbell says hello.'" Campbell is the Medical Board investigator who built the case against Mikuriya. Mikuriya told Leader he didn't have $75,000 to cover the fine. Leader asked for three years' worth of financial information, which Mikuriya is reluctant to provide. "The Medical Board has shown that they have lower standards of confidentiality," he says. A According to his attorney, Charles Bond, it is very unusual for the Board to demand payment before the end of the probationary period. "According to the California Medical Association and colleagues I've checked with," he says, "the Board doesn't expect payment at the outset. Tod is getting special treatment." There are numerous grounds for appeal to the Superior Court, according to Bond, starting with "the unusual method in which the state singled out Tod for prosecution and proceeded to prosecute him using evidence obtained from law enforcement and relying on an expert who had never recommended or approved cannabis use." Bond also argues that a "statement" published in the Board's January 1997 newsletter on which Administrative Law Judge Jonathan Lew based his ruling against Mikuriya has no legal force because it was not approved in compliance with the Administrative Practices Act. The Medical Board's endless harassment of Dr. Tod looks personal but is actually political. By prosecuting Mikuriya, Attorney General Lockyer is scoring points with every right wing lawyer in his office and every cop and sheriff in the California Narcotics Officers Association. Mikuriya is getting the Dennis Peron treatment, reserved for the bravest, most far-out radical thinkers, those whom the Drug Warriors know must be done in physically, bled dry financially, character-assassinated or otherwise driven from the leadership if our movement is to be contained. - ----- SCHWARZENEGGER VETOES SB-420 "CLEAN-UP BILL" Gov. Schwarzenegger has vetoed SB 1494, a bill intended to clarify SB 420, which was intended to clarify Prop 215, which didn't need clarification, it needed respect from law enforcement. Dale Gieringer of California NORML sends the following account of the convoluted situation: "SB 1494 made it clear that the possession and cultivation quantity limits in SB 420 were not intended to limit patients' legal right to have as much medicine as they need - a right guaranteed by the text of Prop 215 - but were only intended to define how much patients with state ID cards could have and still be protected from arrest. "In his veto message, Gov. Schwarzenegger erroneously stated that SB 1494 violated the original agreement behind SB 420. In fact, SB 1494 accurately stated the intent of the task force, which had been accidentally misstated by poor drafting language written in a last-minute legislative rush. "This move augurs poorly for supporters of marijuana reform, since it suggests that the Governor is in the pockets of right wing law enforcement interests in Sacramento, who were the major opponents of SB 1494. "Ironically, the Governor's veto appears likely to aggravate legal uncertainty surrounding medical marijuana, since the limits in SB 420 conflict with Prop 215. A legal challenge in the courts now seems certain. "One additional irony of the Governor's veto is that it extends protection from arrest to all medical marijuana patients, not just those with identification cards, as intended in SB 420. The clean-up bill made it clear that only patients with ID cards were protected under the limits, but the original text of SB 420 mistakenly extended this to all 'qualified patients.' The Governor's veto therefore undercuts the incentive for patients to obtain a card in the first place." Dale's sweet, trusting nature is revealed by his assumption that the drafters of SB-420 "accidentally misstated" the intent of the task force with respect to allowable quantity. In the pick-up basketball community you'd run into competitive types who "accidentally misstated" the score when things got tense towards the end of a game; and they'd always accidentally misstate it in their own favor. Always. - ----- CMCR RESPONDS TO CRITICISM Drew Mattison, PhD, co-director of the Center for Medical Cannabis Research, and his assistant Heather Bentley responded to our criticism of the "Cannabinoid Therapeutics" conference they organized in Paestum, Italy. They tried to put a positive spin on the fact that drug companies and federal agencies had funded the event: no state money was spent. Mattison claims that the CMCR was mandated to hold a conference focused on synthetic drugs - including 'antagonist' drugs that block the cannabinoid receptor system - by a line in the Marijuana Research Act that refers to "alternate means of administration." Quite a stretch. The CMCR was created by the Marijuana Research Act of 1999 and received a total of $8.7 million from the California legislature over the course of three years (2000-2002). The CMCR staff solicited proposals and gave grants to 18 scientists to conduct studies, some of which won't be completed until 2006. The staff designated funds to pay themselves and keep the Center in operation through that year. Additional funds have been sought from foundations, the feds, and the private sector. Mattison rejected the idea that the poor quality of marijuana supplied by the National Institute on Drug Abuse had dissuaded seriously ill Californians from enrolling in CMCR's clinical trials. "Our participants have never held that belief," he said. "Our participants have not complained about potency except about it being too potent. Some experienced psychoactive effects before they experienced pain relief." Mattison and Bentley have visited the federally licensed farm in Mississippi and report that NIDA is now removing the sticks and seeds from its product. Mattison added that NIDA can provide marijuana "blended for increased potency," and did so for at least one CMCR study. In response to our suggestion that CMCR analyze the contents of marijuana that people are actually using in California, Bentley said, "I'm not sure that's really within our scope." But she allowed, "We do use a UC lab to test the cannabis that we get from NIDA. We keep it in storage so we need to test it because cannabis degrades over time." The fact that a lab is already in the loop encouraged us to press our proposal. There are many skilled growers in California who, if only they had access to an analytical lab, could develop strains with different cannabinoid ratios for use in treating various conditions. And there are many patients and doctors who would appreciate having the data. "It would lead to real advances," I averred, "and your center would win the hearts and minds of millions of people in California." Bentley also had an answer to our complaint about the CMCR's failure to track which conditions Californians are actually using cannabis to treat. "We didn't have any applications for such a study," she noted. The CMCR staff has been marching under a double standard. They can pro-actively organize a 'Cannabinoid Therapeutics' conference in Italy, but can't suggest that a California researcher gather the basic facts on medical marijuana use in the state. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake