Marijuana - Blame it on the Drs.

              These days no opportunity is missed to denigrate, derogate and  otherwise castigate the medical profession as a whole largely for the incompetence of  a generation  of  administrators (or administridiots, to  title them accurately.)  Not that we don't have our share of comparable individuals within the profession.  Indeed, some of the above mentioned administridiots are physicians, albeit mainly ones who don't like to practice medicine.  A Dean of Medicine who I respected once complained to me that there were Department Heads, "whose whole objective seem to be to never see a patient again."  That does seem to accurately describe many physicians who have ended up in administrative jobs.  Having said that, most of the physicians I have known and worked with have been decent hardworking individuals who cared for their patients above and beyond the call of duty.  Although everyone wants to make a decent living, money was not their main motivation to put in more time and effort than should be expected of any individual.  So, when I see a headline in one of our national newspapers that reads, "Doctors paid for marijuana referrals", I get angry.  It reads as though doctors were the main motivators in the ill -conceived alteration in the drug laws that many, including myself, considered foolish.  The article goes on to describe some doctors and clinics as the recipients of kickbacks from various licensed marijuana producers sometimes to the extent of up to $350 per referral.  Various excuses to try to justify the payments are described, but the bottom line is that it is nothing more than bribery.  Most doctors are not amenable to this sort of bribery but a small number are going to test the situation to the limit and to squeeze every dollar out of the situation that they can.  Some will manage to precariously stay within the boundary of the unfortunate laws.  Meanwhile, we can expect the twenty-five or so licensed producers to compete in a manner that is less than honourable, if not criminal.  The whole medical profession will be tainted by the action of the few. and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which has an obligation to physicians as well as patients,does little to resolve the problem that they helped to generate apart from issuing pompous statements.
               We are well on our way down the slippery slope of developing a sophistry that rationalizes the relaxation of restrictions of drugs of addiction and I have no doubt that soon pot will be as available to anyone who feels they need a little holiday from the strain and stresses of life as Soma was in Huxley's Brave New World.
Comment, if you have any opinions on legislation that is likely to effect your children and grandchildren.