Pubdate: Sun, 19 Aug 2012
Source: Kitsap Sun (WA)
Copyright: 2012 Kitsap Sun
Contact: http://web.kitsapsun.com/scripts/letters.html
Website: http://www.kitsapsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4404
Author: Josh Farley

NEW SILVERDALE CLINIC MORE THAN A MARIJUANA 'AUTHORIZATION MILL'

SILVERDALE -- "Cannabis," someone once told Ezra Eickmeyer, "is a 
gateway drug to natural medicine."

The 36-year-old lobbyist-turned-entrepreneur has been a big believer 
in natural remedies for ailments much of his life, and he was only 
bolstered in those beliefs after trying cannabis as a teenager. He 
sees the plant as having healing properties as opposed to certain 
pharmaceutical drugs that merely suppress symptoms.

But marijuana is only one of the methods of treatment available to 
patients who qualify at his newly opened Blue Horizon Medical clinic 
on Levin Road.

"Medical cannabis is just one of the services in our tool chest," he 
said. "We're not an authorization mill."

After working in Olympia as a political operative for several causes 
including medical marijuana, Eickmeyer, son of longtime Belfair 
lawmaker Bill Eickmeyer, felt the time was right to create a clinic 
of naturopaths that could help its patients find natural solutions to 
health problems.

Their main selling point is creating a "holistic" treatment plan 
built upon a 30-minute visit with a doctor, rather than a quick 
consultation that results in a prescription, Eickmeyer said. Doctors 
will focus on using supplements and herbs and making modifications to 
diet and lifestyle rather than just throwing a drug at the problem, he said.

Their in-depth patient forms ask for information not just about 
physical habits but about a patient's emotional and psychological 
well being. They want to get a complete picture of the person, Eickmeyer said.

He believes that pharmaceuticals and surgery should provide the "last 
line of defense" and that using natural medicines and changing 
lifestyles is an integral aspect of healing what ails patients.

Since June, the clinic has seen around 100 patients between its two 
naturopathic doctors. Appointments so far can only be made Wednesdays 
and Saturdays but Eickmeyer said that will likely change soon.

Patients can book an appointment for a 1.5-hour "prescription drug 
safety evaluation" for $250; an hourlong holistic health visit, in 
which the doctors learn a patient's history and start a treatment 
plan; and $135 will cover the cost of a medical cannabis 
authorization if a patient qualifies.

Eickmeyer touts marijuana's benefits as a natural plant versus 
"toxic" pharmaceuticals, that marijuana is safer and patients can 
develop a connection with the plant if they start growing their own 
medicine. But he's quick to add that they will deny patients medical 
marijuana authorization if they don't qualify for it under the law.

He felt Silverdale was a good location for the clinic both because of 
demand in the area for natural medicine and because "it's my home 
turf." He grew up in North Mason and on Bainbridge.

Primary care by naturopaths is no different from other physicians, 
said Dr. Mohammad Shegeft, one of Blue Horizon's two doctors. The 
difference, Shegeft said, is how they treat the ailment.

Shegeft uses a river as a metaphor for health. He wants patients to 
get to the highest, purest part of the river because they've learned 
to swim, not by clinging to the pharmaceutical "rocks" along its banks.

Natural medicine "needs to be the future," Shegeft says. "People are 
going to want wellness-based treatments."

The goal, he says, is for the body to heal the underlying cause of a 
problem rather than simply suppressing symptoms.
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