A long-time Massachusetts medical marijuana doctor announced she will no longer recommend cannabis therapy, citing the medical license suspension of two colleagues due to “over-recommending” practices, according to a Valley Advocate report.
In a letter to her patients and the Advocate, Dr. Jill Griffin said the step was necessary because of “hostility toward cannabinopathic medicine from government regulators and the medical establishment.”
“Several colleagues now face disciplinary action arising out of their practice in this field,” Griffin wrote. “Although I know, as a matter of my experience and training, that I have done nothing wrong in caring for you, the risk of losing my medical license is a peril I can no longer endure.”
Griffin is one of just 13 doctors in western Massachusetts who provides certifications for the program. She wrote more than half – 3,284 – of the 6,270 recommendations in the region.
According to the report, her office voicemail message indicates that she might reconsider the decision following the outcome of the recreational-use ballot measure vote in November.
Dr. Bruce I. Goderez, a psychiatrist certified to recommend cannabis in the state, said the lack of physicians participating in the program is a “big problem.”
According to the Department of Health, just 155 doctors are certified with the program.