Now this particular news item did not come as a surprise — I’ve been expecting to read something like it for quite a while, since medical marijuana programs are fully operable in a number of states — currently, 38 plus the District of Columbia. This example comes from Pennsylvania:
“Pot Docs”, I’ve heard them called. Known in the community for their willingness to certify someone for participation in a medical marijuana program, whether or not they actually need it.
According to the article, “In 2022, 17 doctors issued more than 132,000 Pennsylvania medical marijuana certifications combined. That accounts for nearly one-third of the total number issued in the state that year… Those doctors each issued more than 5,000 that year.”
If I had to guess, the 17 fall into one of two categories. First, practitioners who themselves are ‘true believers’ in the value of marijuana, and everyone’s right to free access. As one physician explained it, he saw marijuana as a ‘gift from heaven’ that should be made available to anyone who wants it, for any reason, period.
That wasn’t possible in the state where he practiced, so he did the next best thing: Let it be known that enrollment was available for the asking. And of course recommending it to the vast majority of his own patients.
Others have different reasons. Some — not that many, fortunately — appear to be in it for the money. They resemble the docs who ran pill mills in Florida and other states during the early years of the prescription painkiller epidemic. For them, it was just good business.
It seems that once the cannabis laws in a particular state were expanded to include recreational use, the demand for those once-precious certifications greatly declined. The reason: it had become cheaper and easier to find comparable products on the shelf at the local dispensary. Or on the black market, if wished.
“That was always the goal,” insisted the director of one drug treatment program. “Medical pot, that was just the camel’s nose poking under the tent flap. The real aim was always making recreational use fully legal.”
Think he’s right? I don’t know. I doubt any widespread conspiracy was involved. Just the traditional American faith in drug use, and the all too human desire to make money.
