Retired Doctor Pushes To Allow Medical Marijuana Edibles At Marin General
GREENBRAE (KPIX 5) -- If one retired Bay Area doctor has his way, patients will soon be able to openly use medical marijuana inside a Marin hospital.
However, they will not be allowed to smoke it.
Dr. Larry Bedard is a retired ER physician at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae who now serves on the Marin Healthcare District Board.
He wants Marin General doctors to be able to prescribe and administer marijuana in edible form. Currently the state only allows doctors to recommend medical marijuana.
"We ought to be on the cutting edge for our patients, allowing them to openly and appropriately use medicinal cannabis," said Bedard.
Bedard is introducing a resolution to the board Tuesday night that would direct the hospital's medical staff to research clinical and legal issues of using edible medical marijuana in the hospital.
He says there currently are some patients who are hiding their pot use or having hospital visitors bring edibles in to them.
Lynnette Shaw opened the first licensed medical marijuana dispensary in Marin County back in 1997. She has been sneaking pot brownies into Marin General for 20 years and says most doctors are perfectly aware of the practice.
"This is something they know about," said Shaw.
She will be at the board meeting to support the resolution.
"I think it's time for Marin general to step up, because this is a revolution for better health," Shaw explained. "For goodness sake, help the patients! Save lives!"
Other Marin general board members say they need more information. The main concern is that Federal and state authorities could retaliate by lifting the hospital's Medi-Cal funding.
"I'm convinced the DEA will never recognize cannabis as an allopathic medicine," said Bedard. "They are frozen into one medicine: one drug and one pill or one injection "
The meeting where Bedard's proposed resolution will be discussed is set to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.
