Julie has promised to get me a copy of this "protocol" or "policy" (and what's the difference??) for a while. She couldn't include a link in the closed Kaiser email system, so she tried to send it to me through my Yahoo account.

At the bottom of that email was the text of the email she had sent to someone within Kaiser, which read, in part:

"I have several patients with history of drug abuse, including MJ abuse, who have obtained these cards. They do have pain, and say the MJ makes them feel instantly better."

In her opinion, apparently, any use of marijuana -- legal or otherwise -- results in a categorization as a drug abuser.

Sheesh.

CB

PS: The link didn't work, so I still haven't seen anything.

As long as it's fashionable to challenge the government through populism of either variety, perhaps it's time to challenge the medical establishment.

Many, many states now allow patients to sue their providers for under-managing their pain. After talking with my daughter, I'm thinking she may be right -- the only way this problem is going to be addressed is through lawsuits.