So-called 'police' still seizing medical records
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 21, 2001
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
So-called 'police' still seizing medical records
Last week, we examined the seizure of the records of more than 5,000 medical marijuana patients as drug police raided the home and office of Dr. Mollie Fry, a physician, in El Dorado County, Calif.
But it appears the Fry raid may be the tip of the iceberg. In a firsthand account of a similar raid on the office of Dr. William Eidelman in Santa Monica on Oct. 10, a medical marijuana patient writes:
"I arrived at Dr. Eidelman's office in Santa Monica at approximately 3 p.m. The doctor was seeing another 'patient' so I waited in the lobby. A few minutes later that supposed 'patient' came out into the lobby and stopped. He smiled really big, looked down at the letter he had just received from the doctor, and said to me, 'I'm sure glad this guy is around, good luck,' and then he left," writes the witness, who is on probation and asks that his name not be used.
"I then went into Dr. Eidelman's office and had a discussion with him. About 10 or 15 minutes later there was a knock at the front door of the office. When the doctor answered I could hear from down the hall the man introduce himself as a narcotics detective with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, and he said he had a warrant to search the premises and seize some property. The doctor called for me to come out of the office and into the lobby. ...
"The cops said they were there to seize all his medical records, and the laptop computer the records were stored on, and to search for controlled substances. Dr. Eidelman argued with them for a few minutes about the the lack of probable cause for the search and the illegality of seizing all his confidential patient records. ...
"All of the officers appeared to be with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department. There were approximately a dozen officers, all fully armed, outfitted, geared up, weapons showing/being carried, some wearing helmets and goggles, etc. ...
"The man who appeared to be the lead detective was the same man who had posed as a 'patient' and seen the doctor right before I did. ...
"An officer asked me for ID and I gave it to him. He then walked out into the hall and handed it to another cop and told him to 'run this guy, and try and find something so we can take him in; I'm sure you'll find something.'
"A few minutes later they sent me out into the hallway to be 'interviewed' by the cop who ran my ID. I was then face-to-face with the same guy who had been posing as a patient when I arrived. His attitude, questions and treatment of me was despicable. He asked why I was there and I told him I was meeting with my doctor. He then tried to force me to give my medical history and tell him what I had been discussing with the doctor.
"He kept asking what my medical conditions were and what treatment I was seeking from the doctor. I told them it was none of their business. He then told me I had better cooperate and stop lying to him 'or else you'll be in a lot more trouble.' He kept saying, 'You're here to buy a pot note, aren't you?' I told him I was not there to 'buy a pot note.' That went back and forth for a while and he kept asking what my medical conditions were, in a VERY sarcastic tone, and said something to the effect of, 'You won't tell me because it's bull and there's nothing wrong with you'. The other cops standing around all chuckled and said, 'He looks fine to me.'
He next said ... 'You people think you can just come in and buy a note and then use that note to get your crack hit and call it legal medicine.' I found his 'crack hit' reference pretty representative of his ignorance. ... They acted like (Proposition) 215 recommendations were illegal."
"After more of their harassment I said I had to be somewhere and asked how much longer I had to stay. The detective gave me back my belongings and said, 'If you really have a medical condition, I recommend you go see a real doctor who will treat you with real medicine, and stop running around trying to get "a fix." ' ...
"The detective gave me his card and then I left. The card is from the Sheriff's Detective Narcotics Division, San Bernardino. ...
"They did not arrest Dr. Eidelman, but are investigating him for supposed felonies."
A preliminary hearing on the seizure of Dr. Eidelman's computer records has been scheduled for San Bernardino County Superior Court.
"Basically they don't like the law and they don't believe in the legitimacy of medical marijuana," Dr. Eidelman told me last Friday. "In spite of the fact the law was passed by the people of the state of California they would like to ignore the law and contravene it."
I pointed out to Dr. Eidelman that the ideal test case would be some white-haired general practitioner recommending marijuana for a life-long patient who now has to deal with glaucoma, that police on the other hand will doubtless try to characterize him as some kind of "marijuana mill," with marijuana recommendations constituting the bulk of his practice.
"Well, this is a major part of my practice these days, because the white-haired old GP is scared to write the letters ... . The patients come to me and say, 'My doctor sent me to you because he says I need this but you're the only one who's willing to write the recommendations,' so by the laws of supply and demand I've become the specialist in medical marijuana in Southern California. ... "
We were all taught in our high-school Civics classes that if you want to change the law, all you have to do is get a majority of voters to agree with you - which is exactly what backers of California's humane Proposition 215 did. But these California prosecutors and so-called "police" now reveal they don't believe in - or honor - that system at all.
In the courtroom where Chief Magistrate Gregory Hollows set the Oct. 22 hearing in the case of Dr. Mollie Fry, wheelchair-bound Dee Blanc of Placerville told The AP she had dropped to 81 lbs. before she began using marijuana to gain weight.
''I'm a chronic pain patient,'' she said.
Kimberly Craft of Placerville said, ''We have a state law that protects us. I'm afraid they're going to put us on a list and decide who's next."
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Subscribe to his monthly newsletter by sending $72 to Privacy Alert, 561 Keystone Ave., Suite 684, Reno, NV 89503 -- or dialing 775-348-8591.
Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com
"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right." -- Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926)
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
