Posts Tagged ‘md’
Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger
September 8, 2008
The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor
State of California
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: AB2279 (Leno) Medical Cannabis Employment Non-Discrimination
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
Assembly Bill 2279 sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno will soon be on your desk for a signature. AB 2279 is in response to the California State Supreme Court decision that allows employers to fire medical marijuana patients who test positive for medical cannabis. As a California Board certified physician since 1979 and a graduate of the UC medical system, I felt compelled to write you. I urge you to support AB 2279 and help my patients receive their medication and keep their jobs. Patients are being unfairly discriminated against simply as a result of the medications their physicians chose to recommend for them as the best treatment for their symptoms. AB 2279 will erase unjustified discrimination in the workplace while benefiting employers, medical marijuana patients and society as a whole.
In my office, I have the forms to order traditional and non-traditional therapies, including medical marijuana – tragically one of these can result in the loss of jobs for my patients. The result of allowing employers to fire medical marijuana patients for their physician recommended course of treatment interferes with my ability to prescribe the best course of medical relief for my patients – in essence forcing me to violate the Hippocratic Oath. Of course, whatever medication I choose to prescribe should not interfere with my patient’s ability to execute their responsibilities. Yet, it is my personal experience with thousands of patients that medical cannabis allows patients to function at their best – and I have to ask, what employer wouldn’t want that from his employees?
In my practice the average age of my patients is 50. I have examined the demographics and find most of my patients’ function well in society and hold respectable jobs. I find that by the time patients have come to me they have tried many standard pharmaceuticals as well as other alternative health options to deal with their disease. They tell me stories about how these therapies have caused them to function at a sub-standard level. They come to me looking for relief and a better quality of life. For those whom I have recommended cannabis, I know they have benefited, because nearly all return for renewals on an annual basis with the same comment, “I’ve never had a better year.”
As I collect more clinical evidence, I am finding that medical cannabis patients’ function at least as well at work than the thousands of patients for whom I have prescribed standard pharmaceuticals over 25 years.
I understand that the California Supreme Court is trying to interpret the law as currently written, however, testing for cannabis doesn’t prove patients are less effective at work.
• Testing only proves that the patient used cannabis sometime in the past several months.
• Effects of cannabis only last about 90 minutes compared to four hours or more for pharmaceuticals.
• Testing doesn’t gauge the “hang over” effects such as those that can seen in patients who use alcohol the night before or come to work groggy because of their prescription medications.
It is difficult to justify the discrimination of firing a medical marijuana patient who uses cannabis during their off hours and then has no impairment at work versus patients who are truly disabled at work, (i.e., hung over or pharmaceutically medicated patients), being allowed to continue employment while cannabis patients are fired. There is no justification for allowing impairment at work for some doctor recommended medications and prohibiting any use, even at home, of another.
Once a medication is legal under state law, it should be legal in the eyes of all state governmental functions. The state should not allow medical marijuana use on one hand and then endorse discrimination against a patient on the other. Limiting the options of job seekers because of unfair and unjustified discrimination makes no sense. Upon completion of an exam, I explain to my patients the details of any medications I might prescribe or recommend. I believe that my patients use their medications responsibly. So whether I pick up a prescription pad and write a traditional prescription for the patient or write a medical marijuana recommendation is a decision between the patient and me as their doctor. Without AB 2279, some of my patients will be discriminated against in their workplace, will lose their jobs, and may find themselves on public assistance and state supported Medi-Cal. This serves no public good and hurts us all.
Please sign AB 2279 into law.
Sincerely,
Allan I. Frankel, M.D.
3007 Washington Blvd. Suite 110
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
310-821-9600
Is feeling good a “side effect” of Cannabis?
As I have discussed in prior blogs, Cannabis can be a potent anti-depressant. It has this “happy” factor, regardless of whether the patient is medicating for pain, low appetite or nausea.
As a doctor, I am justifiably concerned about the side affects of medications. So, you’d think I’d be concerned when a patient calls me explaining that their nausea is much improved “but” they notice that they feel happier and just “better”. In fact, this doesn’t worry me at all.
When I hear about their concern over “feeling better”, truthfully, it puts a smile on my face. I wish more of the medications I have prescribed over the many years I have practiced had the same side effect profile: “Warning! May include increased feelings of well being”.
All of this begs the question; under what circumstances is happiness or feeling at ease a problem? It is a problem when the good feelings lead to poor or no focus and interferes with one’s life. The mood elevating “side-effects”, (particularly from Sativa Strains), are packed with increased focus – and this is what is so very different and so very wonderful.