November 7,
2009
-URGENT NOTICE –
Your voice is important!
Oregon DHS decision pending on inclusion of mood symptoms
and diseases onto OMMP’s list of qualifying conditions. The Director of the Oregon Dept.
of Human Services, Bruce Goldberg MD, and the State Health Officer, Mel Kohn,
MD will be deciding in November about whether or not to include Depression, Depressive
symptoms, agitation, insomnia anxietyand PTSD onto the list of qualifying
conditions covered under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. The “expert” panel
convened by the DHS voted 4 to 3 against allowing any of the
conditions onto the list. The opposing members were: Chemical Dependency
counselor Diane Lia, Dr. Tom Dodson of the Oregon Medical Association, Marian
Fireman of the Oregon Psychiatric Association and Dr. Grant Higginson of DHS.
The process of evaluation and the panel member selection
was marred by significant issues which have virtually guaranteed rejection of
conditions, in spite of a hundred patient comments, numerous expert testimonies
and a thousand pages of supporting documentation submitted by the petitioner.
(Please see Petitioner’s rebuttal for a description of the panel process.)
Without patient feedback it is virtually certain that all
conditions will be rejected. This will mean that thousands of Oregonians
who use cannabis to combat mood symptoms, diseases or the intolerable effects
of pharmaceuticals, will remain in danger of arrest, prosecution, civil asset
forfeiture, child protective service investigations, employment discrimination,
medical discrimination, jail and forced drug treatment.
PLEASE call, write or e-mail the State Health Officer and the
Director of DHS today! It is urgent that patients speak up, and tell Drs.
Goldberg and Kohn that you use cannabis to safely and effectively treat your
conditions, know someone who does, and that all patients deserve to use any
medication that benefits them free of fear of prosecution. The DHS should not
reject patients. Ask them to approve all conditions!
Director
Bruce Goldberg M.D., is a family medicine physician who has
devoted his professional career to improving the organization, delivery and
financing of public health services. He has been Director of the Oregon
Department
of Human Services since November 2005,
a position he says he was drawn to because of the opportunity it provides for making
a positive difference in the lives
of so many people.
Dr. Bruce
Goldberg, MD Director
Oregon
Department of Human Services
500 Summer St.
NE 4th floor
Salem, OR
97301
Voice: 503-947-5110
TTY:
503-947-5080
Fax:
503-378-2897
Bruce.goldberg@dhs.state.or.us
Assistant Director for Public
Health - State Public
Health Officer
Mel Kohn, M.D., M.P.H., of Portland, was named acting DHS
assistant director for the State Public Health Division and State Health
Officer in September 2008. He previously served as state epidemiologist and
administrator of the DHS Office of Disease Prevention and epidemiology
Mel Kohn, MD,
State Health Officer:
800 NE Oregon
St, Ste 930
Portland OR
97232
Phone:
971-673-1300