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shining some light at the shady under-belly of medical marijuana in california

BREAKING NEWS - October 23, 2009 - California Medical Board revokes the medical license of Dr. Hany Assad, effective November 23, 2009

"Respondent reached the conclusion that marijuana would be an effective mediation for SW [patient] without following the well-settled standards for licensed physicians. The overall impression is of a cursory office visit. Accordingly, there is no reasonable basis upon which to base a belief that he will conform to the standard of practice in the future. Patient safety is at risk by his continued practice and the public interest requires that his certificate be revoked." - California Medical Board

If you are a current patient of Dr. Assad, be aware that your physician's statement recommending medical marijuana will be invalid as of November 23, 2009. It would be advisable to secure a new physician (and this time, perhaps you might want to consider a legitimate doctor?!?) as soon as possible.

"Prohibition against treating female patients"

California Medical Board File No. 12-1998-92802 - Dr. Hany Assad PDF

UPDATE! Medical Board Petition to Revoke Dr. Assad's Probation

California Medical Board File No. D2-1998-92802 - Dr. Hany Assad - December 22, 2008 PDF

Pages 1-9 of this PDF outline the Medical Board's specific findings and issues with Dr. Assad's practice of medicine - and cites the Mikuriya Decision (a prior MedBoard Ruling) that was adopted as precedent - defining what the Medical Board considers to be appropriate standards of care for physicians who recommend Medical Marijuana. Page 10 of the Assad PDF outlines the Medical Board's recommended decision against Dr. Assad - revoking his current probation and revoking or suspending his Medical License. The Medical Board has NOT YET taken action on this Petition, however, if they approve this petition, Dr. Assad will lose his license and will no longer be a physician or be allowed to practice medicine in the State of California.

These documents were obtained from the Medical Board of California Public Document Search

You can access these documents directly from the Medical Board, by visiting this link: http://medbd.ca.gov/document_lookup.html and entering Dr. Asad's Name or License Number (as shown in the example below) and clicking the search button. Be sure to read both documents listed in the results!

medical board lookup form information

License No = 54309    Last name = Assad    First name = Hany

And for the most current updates on the Dr. Assad case, be sure to look up the status of his license (or the license of any doctor you consider seeing!) Medical Board of California Physician Information

How can doctors perform legal medical marijuana recommendations in California?

Here's a primer on what constitutes acceptable medical practice standards by the Medical Board of California. If you're and doctor, and would like to keep your medical license, it's a good idea to make sure that your practice meets or exceeds these minimum legal standards. Otherwise, you could find yourself in the midst of a Med Board investigation (an expensive and unpleasant process) and possibly lose your license. Just ask former doctor Alfonzo Jimenez - and read the rather sobering Jimenez Ruling for just how seriously they take compliance with an "appropriate standard of care." As long as you ARE practicing with these standards, you have nothing to fear!

Remember: only a licensed Physician or DO can issue a Physician's Statement Recommending Medical Marijuana to make eligible Patients Legal for Medical Marijuana under Prop 215

Furthermore, a recommendation for medical marijuana is only legally valid if the physician's standard of care in treating patients meets that set by the Medical Board:

The California Medical Board has issued Guidelines for Physicians who wish to make these recommendations; "These accepted standards are the same as any reasonable and prudent physician would follow when recommending or approving any other medication."
The Medical Board also provides a link to a California Medical Association (CMA) Reference Document - CMA-OnCall#1315-TheCompassionateUseAct, which is updated annually with easy-to-understand "plain English" analysis of the legal issues surrounding Medical Cannabis Recommendations. This "Question and Answer" style guide has information useful for Patients, Employers, Caregivers, Governmental Entities, and of course, Physicians who Recommend Medical Marijuana for their patients, and it references the legal case law as necessary and explains how those rulings affect the issue at hand. Here's an example from the document (answering a VERY important question with serious legal rammifications for Doctors!)
```
        27. What if a patient asks me how he or she can obtain cannabis?

        Physicians should not provide a patient with the name and address of a cannabis club or other type of
        cannabis distributor.  While physicians may be sympathetic to a patient who cannot otherwise obtain
        medicinal cannabis, physicians may risk serious sanctions if they direct a patient to a specific cannabis
        source.  Physicians should inform a patient that the physician cannot affirmatively assist the patient in
        obtaining cannabis.
```
[if you're wondering, physicians and their staff may not tell a patient how to obtain cannabis*; this is considered 'aiding and abetting' as per the Conant decision (which upheld the right of Physicians to discuss and recommend Medical Marijuana to their patients)]
And, to further clarify what constitutes acceptable practice standards for Physicians who recommend medical marijuana, the Medical Board adopted, as precedent, their entire Mikuriya Decision which very thoroughly outlines what the Medical Board considers to be both acceptable and non-acceptable standards of care.
Finally, physicians may not work for non-physicians, and the vast majority of the "management" or "consulting" groups are questionable—especially when it comes to medical marijuana, where many (if not all of them) are attempts to 'coverup' their relationship to dispensaries/pot clubs (which is even worse, as the doctor is then very directly involved in aiding and abetting). The Medical Board's Action Report Newsletter (Oct 2004) had a great article on the non-physician topic. Here's an excerpt (disclaimer: a few redundant sentences removed in the interest of space; the linked file includes the full text):

Joan Jerzak (Director of Enforcement) wrote:
The board receives a significant number of complaints alleging corporate practice of medicine, aiding/abetting unlicensed practice of medicine, improper ownership of a clinic, fee splitting and various related issues where physicians are engaging in business practices which are in violation of the Medical Practice Act.
Some unscrupulous non-physicians have preyed upon physicians who are unfamiliar with the complexities of a business, its corporate structure or the corresponding law, then find themselves responding to board inquiries regarding a practice they know little or nothing about.
In most situations it is not appropriate for a physician to be hired by a non-physician. This is illegal. Some physicians believe they can be hired by a layperson as a medical director. This is also illegal.
Many complaints to the board involve small storefront clinics, where a non-physician has purchased an office and the associated medical equipment.
The missing item is a physician with an active license. In this situation, physicians are recruited and paid an hourly wage or salary and may believe that their recruitment was conducted on behalf of a legitimate medical corporation, which does not exist.
When hired into any medical practice, physicians should confirm the owner is a physician or the business is a legitimate medical corporation.

*and just to be clear, THIS IS STILL illegal even if you just give your patients the address of a website for the "non-profit" organization that your marketing director setup that conveniently offers a huge statewide directory of pot clubs that your chain of clinics has arrangements with to accept your in-house patient ID card.