Maryland's Medical Marijuana Laws a Mine Field for Physicians

             Maryland’s Medical Marijuana Laws a Mine Field for Physicians

One question physicians should ask themselves is: What civil and criminal penalties may I incur in the event I prescribe Marijuana? Neither Maryland’s inept and corrupt Medical Board nor its self-serving Medical Society have issued any statements concerning potential penalties. House Bill 881 signed by Governor Martin O’Malley in April of 2014 required the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and its Marijuana Commission to derive regulations governing the dispensing of medical Marijuana. Recently directives have been released concerning physician involvement in procuring Marijuana for potential patients. Physician liability was not addressed by these rules or prior statue. Worse, Marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 substance along with Heroin, LSD and other potential abusive drugs. Under federal rules prescribing Marijuana is a felony unless given prior dispensation by authorities. In recent times federal prosecutors have turned away from charging physicians with Marijuana law incursions if their respective states legalized it. This could change at a moment’s notice. Maryland physicians who become involved in accommodating patients seeking “medical Marijuana” run many risks for few rewards.

Physicians will have to move through multi levels of paperwork to be allowed the privilege to certify individuals to obtain “medical Marijuana.” An unrestricted active medical license and a spotless record of compliance with state regulatory structure is a must. Being politically well connected, similar to those chosen to be dispensers of this drug, would not hurt either. Physicians contemplating being listed for medical Marijuana certification should review all available literature issued by state authorities with particular emphasis on any statements by the Attorney General’s Office and the Medical Board.

Maryland Board of Physicians has a habit of inventing rules and standards care after the fact. Never proactive this Board cherry picks which sections of its legal Title it will follow depending upon who is before it. With a lawyer as the Executive head of this administrative entity expectations were the Board would have created guidelines for implementing House Bill 881, since it had 3 years. Without protections from civil and criminal penalties lawyers will have a literal field day prosecuting cases. Worse incorrectly certifying a patient or a patient who crashes a vehicle, with this Schedule One drug in his or her system, the physician’s liability may be substantial. Point is prescribing Marijuana could be entrapment for physicians.

Lastly does malpractice insurance cover prescribing of Schedule One drugs and the resulting detriment this drug could cause to a patient? Approximately 23 states have legalized Marijuana in some form or manner. Each state manages the legalities and judicial responses to this psycho active drug differently. Maryland’s Board of Physicians is not managed as it should. Control has been given over to lawyers with minimal input from physicians. The unpredictability of this Board’s actions, lacking specific written guidelines and standards for physician involvement with this highly potent drug, may not be worth the risk for health care providers.

The author of this article cautions physicians to be wary of signing on to prescribing Marijuana until such time as the civil and criminal liabilities have been “totally clarified.” Maryland’s Board of Physicians and its attack dog the Attorney General’s Office will quickly blame doctors, not themselves, for prescribing mishaps related to Marijuana, even though they have promulgated no rules as of this writing. In the event you want to learn how corrupt your medical board is read a few of the articles at: medicalboardusa.com.

Mark Davis MD

platomd@gmail.com

medicalboardusa.com

onandoffthehill.com

Maryland's code: the truth does not matter

Maryland’s code: the truth does not matter

 

Ethics, morality and truth have little meaning in a state that has codified deceit as a means to an end. Civil dysfunction rules both Maryland State Government and the judicial arm that anoints its misdirected decisions. Yearly Annapolis releases hundreds of laws, regulations and edicts designed to confiscate money, immobilize businesses or inflict pain on its residents. Dismemberment of social systems is a Maryland State Legislature specialty. Placing the needs of our friends from foreign lands ahead of those who foot the bills should not shock anyone whose mind crosses in the middle of the road. Schools districts are notoriously overcrowded which are excused from improving to make way for more uninvited guests. Welfare programs deliver truckloads of money to the undeserving who crave more each year. This addiction to state sponsored handouts was encouraged by our former Democrat Governor and is continued by the ancients in the state legislature. Cronyism’s tentacles continue to enable the elite to maintain their edge at the expense of more deserving individuals whose only crime is they live within this State’s borders. The greatest challenge is to avoid criminal land mines established to capture the state’s subordinated population.

 

Trenchant incivility will be focused on anyone who is marked by lawyers in the Maryland state system who desire to move up the food chain. Given too much authority to prosecute with too few protections for the prosecuted the legal system in Maryland has been in need of a tune up for over thirty years. Decades ago I bumped into a political wall with the purchase of a health facility. A neophyte to the legal system and an ignorantly trusting individual that I am those who held the reins of power then trampled all over me and my family. One learns very quickly that Maryland Law is unidirectional allowing little due process when an agenda needs to be enforced. As an observer to the system of jurisprudence in Maryland, over the last twenty years, I have seen many people ripped apart for the most trivial occurrences. Needless to state the ethics of Maryland’s courts and its rented public lawyers need close inspection. Government in Maryland is no longer for the people who charge its batteries. Instead current elected officials work in a self-perpetuating mode which stands outside the desires of the electorate. Next article will discuss the mechanisms allowed by Maryland Law to decimate the lives of those who empower the system.

 

Mark Davis, M. D. President of Davis Media and Writing Services, www.daviswritingservices.com platomd@gmail.com Author of Demons of Democracy and Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster.

Larry Hogan: A new Governor with a new vision

Larry Hogan: A new Governor with a new vision

 

Larry Hogan is Maryland’s new Governor. His aspirations were achieved with the perspirations of many who worked endless hours to achieve this goal. Governor Hogan’s win was no surprise to this intrepid reporter who predicted his win in an article published the day prior to the election (Larry Hogan: New Leadership for Annapolis). With perseverance and a clear vision Governor elect Hogan was able to translate his message of lower taxes, less regulation and simplified government to an electorate starved for leadership. Eloquent in his victory speech Governor elect Hogan noted there is much work ahead to bring his vision to fruition. Maryland’s business community has been oppressed by a vicious campaign from its Legislature and current Governor to extort as much funds as it could from them. As a consummate businessman the new Governor understands the inequities that need to be flushed away to attract investments from corporate America. He is alert to the fact that every administrative entity under the auspices of his new office has been politicized. Political appointees reign within these boards which have pushed out the expertise they once had and sorely need. Maryland’s Legislature will not make it easy for him to pass legislation that rights many of the wrongs in this State. Under former Governor Erhlich gridlock more than compromise blocked many of the reforms he brought before them. Democrats will argue to keep the current status quo in place which redistributes billions to the indolent and lazy in the state. Record levels of state workers do little more than move paperwork across their desks and harass Maryland residents. Time has come to reevaluate this State’s bloated work force to bring efficiencies and sensibilities to this superfluous population. Larry Hogan is up to the task as reflected in his ability to overcome great odds to ascend to Maryland’s highest office. We all wish him well and hope to contribute to his efforts in any way we can.

 

Mark Davis MD, President of Davis Writing Services, www.daviswritingservices.com    platomd@gmail.com

Maryland's compulsory drug proposals

 

Maryland’s compulsory drug proposals

 

Maryland’s legislature is exuberantly moving forward with proposals to force medications on unwilling patients. New laws under consideration are coercion tactics to medicate both inpatient and not hospitalized individuals who may be subject to psychological stress. How the judicial arm of Maryland government will interplay with these potential legislative efforts is yet to be determined.

 

National debate reached a crescendo concerning the mentally disabled amongst us after the massacre inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. Adam Lanza, mentally challenged for years, finally went berserk taking 27 lives then his own. Multiple psychiatric ailments were attributed to Lanza who received treatment for them intermittently from the time he was in elementary school. Adequacy of therapy was the central theme in the aftermath of this egregious event. Lanza could not be forced to take pharmaceuticals to control his behavior. With new laws under consideration that scenario may change.

 

Division in the medical community on forced medication protocols for those with the gamut of mental illnesses is significant. Many questions need to be answered to satisfy the hordes of practicing physicians who will be called upon to apply these therapies. Is informed consent necessary? Will the Maryland’s Attorney General Office be waiting with a noose if the doctor does not believe and or apply the therapies within the protocol? Maryland’s Board of Physicians: where do they stand on this issue?  Are physicians protected against malpractice suits when the patient objects to being drugged? Who writes the standards of care for this exploitation of the patient, lawyers or physicians? The list of questions is long and involved. Maryland Physicians are fully aware the legal community will benefit most from this State overreach into its citizens’ lives.

 

Proof that intensely medicating people will reduce levels of violent crimes has yet to evolve. Draconian measures under consideration are reminiscent of controls utilized in the most undemocratic of societies. Worse, in the event this egregious legislative effort is allowed to breathe, what next? School children who are not already taking psycho-tropics could be forced on to them or be expelled. Once this door is opened, bureaucrats may enforce these drugs on an array of people. Before legislation of forced medicating people is placed into effect studies need to be performed and or reviewed to justify this approach. Maryland’s legislature does not have the cerebral ability to either justify this move or the integrity to make it work for those who will potentially benefit most. Perhaps our legislators should take a tour of the State Constitution and its big brother in the federal domain before the few rights Marylanders have left move off into the sunset.

 

Mark Davis MD, President of Davis Book Reviews and Healthnets Review Services.

www.healthnetsreviewservices.com    platomd@gmail.com

Author of Demons of Democracy and his newest work, Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster.