Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 Source: Oregonian, The (OR) Copyright: 2002 The Oregonian Contact: http://www.oregonlive.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324 Author: Don Colburn Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Phillip+Leveque STATE HEDGES DEADLINE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA VERIFICATION When about 350 rejection letters go out this month, Oregon's troubled medical marijuana program hopes to close the book on a backlog of applications signed by a Molalla osteopath. Today was the original deadline for nearly 900 patients to more fully document their applications signed by Dr. Phillip Leveque, the 78-year-old retired osteopath. Leveque is the authorizing physician for about 40 percent of the approved marijuana cards in Oregon. Though no new deadline has been imposed, authorities hope to finish the verification process by the end of the month. Leveque is under investigation by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners for alleged inattention to patients for whom he signed requests for medical marijuana. For example, the board is investigating whether he signed a teen-ager's medical marijuana application without examining her, diagnosing her condition or conferring with her other doctors. In October, state health officials sent letters to nearly 900 patients whose applications were signed by Leveque. The letters asked applicants for fuller documentation of their need for medical marijuana and written evidence of a doctor-patient relationship. Leveque had told state authorities he kept no detailed medical records on the patients. In many cases, his authorization was based on a telephone conversation. Leveque said he didn't do physical exams for several hundred applicants because they lived out of town and an exam wasn't explicitly required until now. "If somebody lives in Ontario or Brookings, are they going to have to come all this way just to see me for 15 minutes?" he said. "It seems a little bit absurd." Under new rules proposed by the state last summer, the authorizing doctor must review the patient's medical record, examine the patient and keep a written file. The Jan. 15 deadline is being hedged, in effect, because neither side could meet it. Leveque has been able to examine only about 400 of the 900 patients. And state officials have had trouble keeping up with the slew of paperwork. The delay gives officials a few extra days to screen applications and send out all the denials at once. "The backlog will be cleaned up by the end of the month," said Dr. Grant Higginson, state public health officer. "We're anticipating we'll have to send out about 350 denial letters," said Chris Campbell, acting manager of the medical marijuana program. He said the letters would be sent within two weeks to patients whose documentation was either not filed or was incomplete. Of the other 550 applicants, most have received marijuana cards. Another 63 asked to withdraw from the program. To verify the signatures on new applications, the state sends a letter to the authorizing doctor. Campbell said the letters ask: "Is this really your patient, and do you agree they have a debilitating illness treatable with marijuana?" Leveque said he received about 150 of the verification letters in Saturday's mail. Under Oregon's 3-year-old Medical Marijuana Act, residents can apply for a card allowing them to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes. The fee is $150. The application requires a doctor's signature to verify that the patient has a "debilitating medical condition" such as cancer, glaucoma, AIDS or severe pain. As of Monday, 1,838 Oregonians had medical marijuana cards. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake