Medical Marijuana Legalization Explosion

New stock company providing education about the benefits of marijuana in business.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - Legal medical marijuana started with an apprehensive whimper in California in 1996. Doctor Tod Mikuriya, who had studied cannabis/marijuana as safe effective medicine for about 30 years, was most likely the first doctor to jump into the fray and controversy. The California Medical Board went "ape" and harassed him.

In 1998, Oregon made medical marijuana legal. I was one of the first doctors who jumped in as I was partially disabled from medical malpractice with a spinal cord injury and could no longer do a regular office practice. I had studied cannabis/marijuana as medicine for about 50 years and I knew it was not "dangerous" but a good effective medicine.

Right after I started writing applications, the Oregon Medical Board went "totally ape" and not only harassed me personally, but were providing local newspapers with scandalous, libelous articles about me such as "Doctor Leveque is a danger to all his patients and the public in general".

I had not harmed any patients in any way and I had up to 4,000 patients who came to me year after year to renew their permits.

I am writing this as an introduction/explanation of how the DEA and the Medical Boards use Gestapo like tactics to frighten doctors and patients getting legal permission to grow and use a effective medicine.

In spite of these DEA/medical Board Gestapo tactics, legalization of medical marijuana has blossomed into presently 13 states with legality and ten more states with mills in their legislatures.

This will cause an extreme problem. Doctors are still paranoid fearful of the DEA and medical boards although President Obama, a former user, has implied his new attorney general will rein in the DEA. He hasn't done it yet. SHAME ON HIM!

In California, possibly only about 100 doctors are writing MJ approvals and about 300,0000 patients are legal. In Oregon 3,000 doctors have signed applications for 22,000 patients. About 70% percent were signed by only ten doctors. Most doctors have signed only one or two applications.

I can reassure doctors that the DEA WILL NOT cause revocation of your medical license. This has happened to only one doctor, myself. They got me because my board is nearly all MD's and I am an osteopathic doctor considered by them unfit to practice medicine.

The DEA has the capacity to influence Oregon Medical Board actions and they can restrict your license to prescribe certain medications, which they did to me.

I was a pharmacology professor for 25 years in some of the best medical schools in the U.S. And I was invited by the University of London to teach in Africa. I trained the first doctors in Tanzania.

Do you have a a question, comment, or story to share with Dr. Leveque?
Email him: Ask Dr. Leveque

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King and 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

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Leonard Krivitsky, MD February 2, 2011 5:44 am (Pacific time)

I believe it is very positive that the President acknowledges the "validity" of this debate. Whenever the validity of the debate is recognized, such a "recognition" invariably implies that our side has a "valid argument"; this being so, it follows that our side has a very real possibility of winning this "perfectly legitimate debate", for otherwise it would not be a "debate". For example, to suggest that the Cannabis Plant does not have medicinal properties is not even a "rational" thing to do; the same goes for the fact that Cannabis is much safer than alcohol, and if all this were not enough, it is scientifically proven that Cannabis use (as opposed to alcohol use) suppresses violent urges and behaviors! All this is true even if the President is "personally opposed" to legalization (at least for now). And the employers should realize that testing "positive" for Cannabis on a routine urine drug screen is in NO WAY indicative of a current impairment. On the other hand, Cannabis prohibition "pushes" people to engage in alcohol/hard drug/dangerous prescription drug abuse because those substances are either not being "tested" for, or they disappear from the "system" much faster than Cannabis, and are not nearly as likely to be detected. But we cannot sit on our butts and passively expect positive developments to occur. We must participate actively, write comments at the news articles, write to politicians, sign petitions, register to vote, etc. I specifically urge all the young people to talk to their parents and grandparents and educate them about Cannabis vs. alcohol and hard drugs. As the logical evidence in our favor inexorably accumulates, the "qualitative shift" in our common consciousness will occur, and we will win this "perfectly legitimate" debate!

sunflowerpipes September 8, 2009 11:12 pm (Pacific time)

There are many persuasive arguments on why America should legalize marijuana, and the reasons are sound, but despite the fact that many millions of Americans have used pot has not translated into real political pressure on the people who can change the laws. One of the problems inhibiting legalization is that people that smoke a glass pipe are not considered serious or mature. It is This stigma that scares many pot users into hiding that they smoke pot. Therefore the Reality of who smokes pot and how much the smoke is very different than it seems. The last three presidents were admitted pot users and by my Understanding the same is probably true of the first three presidents as well. Marijuana Legislation is very serious and has everything with how we define what it means to be American. What credence do we as Americans give the rights of the individual to the pursuit of happiness as well as a right to privacy? In the end it is up to us to be public about our choices and to Voice our opinions to the ones that ultimately decide what the rules are. Every hand written Letter that makes it to a representative is considered to be the voice of a thousand people who did not take the time to write. Send an email, send a letter make a phone call and get counted. IMPIart.com

Responsible Tax Payer June 5, 2009 8:48 am (Pacific time)

Legalize it. Treat it like alcohol plain and simple. End black market and violence. I’m so sick of the Gateway Drug Argument. Alcohol is the ULTIMATE GATEWAY DRUG. It’s probably 90% of people’s first buzz. And if they like it, the want more. None of my successful friends that smoke got into heavy drugs like coke. It's a shame that the people who get addicted and kill themselves with crack and cocaine get wrapped in the same category as an adult that want to smoke a joint on a Friday night..... What a weird world. Once it’s legal it will be exciting for the first 3 months. After that, the people who smoke now, will probably smoke the same amount. And the people who won’t, simply won’t. Not much will change. And if treated like alcohol. Kids will have as much access to it as a 6 pack of beer. In otherwords, if regulated, kids can’t get it. So legalize it. And to the folks that say NO and that have never done it, what right do they have to judge it?

John June 5, 2009 8:30 am (Pacific time)

"...I was partially disabled from _medical malpractice_ with a spinal cord injury..."

That's a pretty bad typo.

Editor: John, I read that over and over again. Dr. Leveque was in a rollover crash in 1946, misdiagnosed by doctors, and nearly died from what turned out to be a spinal cord injury and broken neck. I might move those words around a little, but that is essentially what happened.

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Medical Marijuana Legalization Explosion

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