OMMP & Dr. Phil 'Marijuana' Leveque - 5000 Permits and No Rejects

Right now there are over 30 thousand Medical Card holders, about 8 thousand care givers, and over 3000 doctors in the program.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I had a very intense, controversial relationship with OMMP for five years. Anyone who has searched the web will immediately see what an explosive relationship it was.

I first heard about cannabis/marijuana (C/MJ) about 1928 – 80 years ago - when I was a newspaper boy in Klamath Falls, Oregon. It was a wild cowboy and logger town, and I sold papers in the Red Light district. I was 5–12 years old. The white boys smoked cigarette butts and the Mexican kids smoked “loco weed”. It took me a while to translate loco.

My next exposure was 20 years later at Oregon Medical School where I found a gallon jug of cannabis cough medicine. It had been illegal for 13 years. I still have a pint of it someplace and I started studying the pharmacology of C/MJ. Texts at that time said it was a euphoriant and addicting. I thought most people used drugs for euphoria; like alcohol and tobacco.

I was a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology for over 30 years, and I constantly kept C/MJ Pharmacology in mind.

In 1998, Oregon “legalized” the medical use of C/MJ and listed the 9 conditions for a patient to be eligible. Most folks know this “grocery list” so I won’t repeat it. As a Pharmacologist, I was totally disbelieving of that list until I started seeing patients.

The first Director of OMMP was Kelly Paige who had worked in places where C/MJ was used and she was very knowledgeable about the subject and was invited all over the U.S. to lecture on how to run a marijuana program.

After about a year, someone was forging my name on patient applications. She reported this to the State Police and the incident was widely reported in newspapers and T.V. It was illegal by law to reveal my name but there it was. The entire Oregon Medical Board went into extensive orgasm. Lets get Marijuana Leveque, and they started monitoring me.

The publicity brought me thousands of patients (ca 5000) but it got Kelly Paige removed from the position, although it was she and her clerks who DID find the forgeries.

The OMMP office started out with one person, Kelly Paige. Soon she had two clerks, and now the place has about ten and they are behind in issuing permits by several hundred... and they will never catch up.

Right now there are over 30 thousand Medical Card holders, about 8 thousand caregivers, and over 3000 doctors in the program.

The bigshots overseeing the program “thought” there would be only about 500 eligible patients. Just like I’ve said, Oregon has the most successful medical C/MJ program and the person who is writing this wrote more than 50% of 5000 of the applications. I must have been doing the thing correctly because the OMMP never rejected ANY of my applications.

The OREGON MEDICAL BOARD had published in the Oregonian Newspaper that I was “A DANGER TO ALL MY PATIENTS - AND THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL” and revoked my medical license.

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Got a question or comment for Dr. Leveque?
Email him: Newsroom@Salem-News.com

More information on the history of Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of Phil Leveque about his experiences in WWII.
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier.
If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.

Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King Dr. Phil Leveque.

Click on this link for other articles and video segments about PTSD and medical marijuana on Salem-News.com: Dr. Leveque INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES

Salem-News.com Marijuana Coverage

Where and How to Smoke Legal Marijuana without Fear of Arrest in the U.S.

Eulogy of a Great Warrior: Hoss Plourde

The Ripple Effect How Marijuana Laws Are Impacting Society

Audit the Audit

Welcome Home, Tom

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

"DEE" August 4, 2010 7:16 am (Pacific time)

WE NEED MORE COMPASSION FROM OUR DOCTOR'S!SOMETHING MOST COULD LEARN FROM DR. "L" TYVM! "DOC"!

Crystal April 24, 2010 8:34 pm (Pacific time)

I personally don't use marijuana, but thank you doc for being so open-minded and making your patients concerns your top priority. What a wonderful doctor you are.

Another Anonymous April 20, 2010 7:20 am (Pacific time)

Thank you, Dr. Leveque, for being a pioneer for this program. Due to a botched up surgery (by a certain major hospital in the Portland area), my husband now suffers constant nausea, and being a OMMP cardholder helps him control this nausea, and makes him feel like eating, much more than without it. The benefits of this "drug" far outweigh the negatives, and I'm glad it's available for him and that it's legal.

westcoastwillie April 19, 2010 5:57 pm (Pacific time)

Thank you, Dr. Leveque, for your courage in not succumbing to strident political pressure from uninformed and hysterical politicians and religious groups and in providing quality medical advice to your patients. Willie

Anonymous April 16, 2010 3:05 pm (Pacific time)

Thanks for all of your years of pioneering the medical marijuana movement! Dennis PowerSaveInternational.com

Daniel April 15, 2010 1:08 pm (Pacific time)

Jack Herer has passed the Emperor is gone !

Osotan; April 15, 2010 1:22 am (Pacific time)

I'd like to know more about the hub of sin,K Fall's red light district.,for research purposes of course.

Kaylea April 14, 2010 11:40 pm (Pacific time)

too bad there aren't more doctors like this

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