Cannabis Consultation Practice Opens in Orange County Feb. 9

Philip Denney, MD, a doctor who has approved cannabis use by some 8,000 Northern California patients, is opening a practice in Orange County.

Since 1996 California law has authorized physicians to recommend cannabis in the treatment of “cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” Since then, an estimated 65,000 patients have obtained physician approvals.

Twelve doctors specializing in cannabis consultations —all but one from Northern California—.have issued approximately half of those recommendations, according to O’Shaughnessy’s, a journal covering the field of cannabis therapeutics.

“My office was getting calls from so many people in Los Angeles and points south,” says Denney, “that we decided to open an office where the need was greatest.”

Denney attended the University of Southern California Medical School, graduating in 197W. A general practitioner for most of his career, in the late 1990s he began specializing in cannabis evaluations, which he defines as “determining whether a patient has a serious medical condition that could be treated safely and beneficially with cannabis.”

Denney says that “more than 95%” of the patients to whom he has issued approvals had

been self-medicating with cannabis before consulting him. The conditions with which they present, he estimates, are: Chronic pain (50%); neurologic (20%); psychiatric, including ADHD and as a “harm reduction” substitute for alcohol (15%); Gastro-intestinal (10%); Other (5%).

None of Denney’s patients have reported adverse reactions or drug interactions. “Cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years,” Denney says, “and has a remarkably benign side-effect profile.”

Two recent legal developments encouraged Denney to expand his practice to Southern California. In October, 2003 the 9th District U.S. Court of Appeals, in a case called Conant v. Walters, confirmed an injunction that prohibits the federal government from threatening or punishing doctors who discuss cannabis as a treatment option with their patients.

In December the same court, in a case called Raich v. Ashcroft, ruled that California patients can grow or obtain cannabis as long as interstate commerce is not affected. (This ruling has been appealed by the Bush administration.)

Denney will be joined in his Orange County practice by Robert E. Sullivan, MD, a former associate. Both men did residencies at Los Angeles County Hospital in the early 1970s.

Denney and Sullivan will open their office at 22691 Lambert St. in Lake Forest on February 9.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Denney, contact Fred Gardner at 949-855-8845.