PHARMACIST STEVE

A new wrinkle in the cannabis/rights issue:

17-year-old Native American man was issued a cannabis card through Alternative Wellness, a consortium of physicians I work with. He had sustained a back fracture as a passenger in a car crash at age 16. He was offered opiate therapy and declined. He has found cannabis to help his severe back pain. He obtained Two physician signatures as required by law for pediatric cases.

He was given a urine drug screen prior to the start of his wrestling season, he displayed his cannabis card to the athletic director, his urine drug screen came up positive for cannabis only, and they mistakenly suspended him from participation in sports for 10 days. Their next mistake was to recheck his urine two weeks later and it was still positive for cannabis( not surprisingly, given cannabis takes 30 days to clear). Then they suspended him for 30 days, effectively ending his wrestling season.

William’s grandfather William has been a patient of mine and contacted me about this.

I spoke with Williams father Jake and he delineated the whole story to me.

At some point the athletic director recommended William obtain a prescription for Marinol, hoping that that would settle the issue.  Marinol is a schedule II Rx often given for nausea. It is derived from cannabis, highly expensive, yet often used in patients who want to use cannabis while having a “legitimate“ prescription.

Because time is of the essence I wrote that Prescription and sent it to William’s father Jake.

Apparently, William is still suspended, endangering his entire wrestling season.

William is now 18. He and his father are still working hard to save his wrestling season.

Jake, the father, presented the Rx to the coach, AD, and principal.

They each told Jake,”Well, this is above my pay grade”, and William remains suspended.

Weirdly, because of the positive urine screen for cannabis William is being forced to go through alcohol and drug treatment counseling. Another weird factor is the person doing the urine drug screening is the person doing the drug and alcohol counseling. My concern Is that we are taking a young man with goals, thwarting those goals, then teaching him about drugs and alcohol while he has nothing to do as his wrestling teammates keep working out.

In the same way as taking a infant away from their breast-feeding mother is a violation of civil rights, prohibiting a young man with a legitimate cannabis card from wrestling also seems to be a violation of his civil rights.

I have not used last names In this letter, though Jake has given me permission to talk to anyone about his son’s case.

I was a wrestler in high school. I remember how important my sport was to me. I have also worked in Wolf Point and Poplar in the past, so I care.

If this kind of case sparks your interest please contact me at 406-439-0752.

I will happily share with you the family’s contact information.

Filed under: General Problems