As medical director for medical cannabis of southern california I am well aware that many recreational users are taking advantage of Proposition 215 to use and cultivate.   Unfortunately, recreational uses can walk into a physicians office and show them evidence that they once fractured their ankle or once spoke to their doctor about indigestion  and walked out with a prescription for prilosec.   They then produce this medical documentation to receive a recommendation to use cannabis for medicinal purposes.

It is difficult for me to look at every patient that walks into my office and try to figure out who is using it for their medical complaint…. and who has a legitimate medical complaint but is using cannabis recreationally.    Both patients will leave with a recommendation as per California Law they qualify.  But in reality only one patient is being truthful.

Malingering is something that doctors deal with in their practices, but in the cannabis industry it is very common.

Unfortunately, many cannabis medical clinics COULD CARE LESS if their patients are legitimate!  How do I know this??  Pretty simple. I can not tell you how many patients I see that have received previous recommendations that have NEVER ONCE been evaluated for their complaints.  They simply walked into the doctors office and said “my back hurts” and paid the fee and walked out with a recommendation.

Today was classic in my Long Beach office.  A patient by the name of Shaun walks in to renew a recommendation that he received from Medicann a year ago.  Shaun goes on to tell my office manager that he has to appear in court tomorrow because he was arrested for growing over 20 plants in his house for the purpose of distribution to a list of his “friends.”   I went on to ask him what the name of his collective was and he responded “oh Im not a collective.”  To which I responded “then why are you cultivating and selling cannabis to a group of people  illegally.”  It was a rhetorical question obviously.

He then went on to ask me to write a letter for the court that he needed to grow 20+ plants because he makes edibles.  Basically he asked me to lie on his behalf so he could look better in court tomorrow.  EVEN AFTER HE TOLD ME GROWS TO DISTRIBUTE!!!  WHAT A MORON!

The bottom line is that I told him I was not willing to be his doctor because he is breaking the law and growing illegally.   He was PISSED because he had brought his medical records for his psoriasis and intended on leaving with at least a recommendation.

As a business owner the easy thing to do would have been to take his $100 and give him a recommendation….since he had a legitimate medical complaint and his medical records with him.   In reality he was full of shit and using Prop 215 as a trojan horse for his illegal grow operation.

As this industry begins to spiral out of control… it is up to us to POLICE OURSELVES to protect the integrity of Prop 215 and SB 420.