Louisiana Medical Board On Medical Marijuana Recommendations Via Telemedicine, What's New

The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners (LSBME) has temporarily suspended enforcement actions against physicians who recommend medical marijuana via telemedicine.

This comes after the Louisiana Senate Health and Wellness Committee accused the state medical board of obstructing access for cannabis-using patients.

What Happened: Despite a new law approved earlier this year that allows virtual visits, the board was making doctors set in-person appointments for patients seeking medicinal marijuana.

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However, “the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners will take no enforcement action against a licensee who, prior to an update of this notice, recommends medical marijuana without an initial in-person visit. Clarification and further deliberations are in process,” states a board's notice.

LSBME Executive Director Vincent Culotta, who recently confirmed the news, noted that the notice does not indicate a change in a board position and said “the in-person visit requirement remains in effect despite the temporary pause on enforcement,” reported Marijuana Moment.

It’s important to note that among the requirements is a statute that determines physicians shall not prescribe a controlled dangerous substance without conducting an in-person examination first.

LSBME’s Competence: Disagreeing with Act 491, which seeks to eliminate the in-person visit requirement for physicians who recommend marijuana, the LSBME licenses physicians in the state and writes specific rules for the practice of medicine derived from the broader state laws.

Meanwhile, Culotta said that the pause on enforcement will remain pending an opinion from the state Attorney General's Office that state Rep. Joe Marino (I) requested last week, according to a local media outlet.

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By his part, Marino believes some of the medical board members "haven’t fully embraced marijuana as a therapeutic drug or the advent of telemedicine." “This board has been scaring doctors. That’s what they’ve been doing, scaring doctors,” said Marino, who also affirmed patients in rural areas and patients with debilitating conditions who have difficulty leaving their homes have been unable to find doctors who would recommend cannabis remotely.

Nevertheless, “the board is not opposed to marijuana at all,” said Dr. Culotta. “The board is opposed to any bad practices of medicine. It’s not about marijuana; it’s about the good practice of medicine and the use of controlled and dangerous substances,” he concluded.

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Photo: Courtesy Of National Cancer Institute On Unsplash