Recently the Massachusetts Department of Public Health sent letters to certified patients concerning a caregiver who provided marijuana to more than one patient. The caregiver stated that he was justified in doing this because he was in a personal service business. What he has accomplished is to provide patients with untested and perhaps mite-infested marijuana that may, in some instances like diasaling asthma, cause more harm than good to the patient.

What this “personal service” provider has accomplished is to show that the profit motive outweighs providing a quality treatment to patients. Medical marijuana is not a first line treatment for medical conditions. It enhances the quality of life for those patients who are debilitated either by inability to eat, move or function or are suffering from sever pain that even a slight lessening would allow the patient to function more fully.

Even the DPH regulations do not provide for the delivery of quality treatment to patients. The regulations mandate that a doctor have a bone-fide physician-patient relationship but then mandate the dispensing, education and dosage to a 21-yo whose only qualification is that he is a non-felon. This system is just unacceptable. It does not provide for any accounting as to the quality of treatment for patients. The only person accountable is the physician. The “bona-fide patient-doctor relationship” is the exact legal definition to determine whether a doctor may be sued for malpractice. Much of this work must be done to deliver quality treatment to these patients.

The Holistic Clinic will be providing its patients with a through follow-up as to the strain and dosage a dispensary gives our patients and a mechanism for obtaining feedback from the patients as to what dosage and strain has provided some relief for their symptoms. We will have a liaison with the dispensaries and a patient-monitor to insure constant improvement for the treatment of our patients.