“This board has been scaring doctors. That’s what they’ve been doing, scaring doctors.”
By Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners is temporarily halting enforcement actions against doctors who recommend medical marijuana via telemedicine. The pause on enforcement comes days after a state Senate committee threatened to revoke the board’s rule-making authority for refusing to lift the in-person visit requirement.
LSBME Executive Director Dr. Vincent Culotta confirmed the news in a phone interview Monday after the board published a notice on its website stating: “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.”
Culotta pointed out the notice does not signal a reversal of the board’s position and said the in-person visit requirement remains in effect despite the temporary pause on enforcement.
The medical board requires physicians to establish a doctor-patient relationship with at least one initial in-person visit before prescribing controlled substances or recommending cannabis through subsequent remote video appointments with a patient.
The LSBME, which is composed of 10 members the governor appoints and the Senate confirms, licenses doctors
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