Communications Office – Florida Department of Health
Tallahassee, Fla.— In light of recent news regarding the disbarment of a lawyer involved in medical marijuana scams, the Florida Department of Health is reminding Florida residents to use caution to avoid falling victim to medical marijuana scams. In this case, individuals were offering “official legal certifications” for marijuana use to patients as well as “grow signs” allegedly permitting patients to grow their own marijuana.
Below are tips to help protect you from scams involving medical marijuana.
- Only approved medical marijuana treatment centers are authorized in Florida to dispense medical marijuana to qualified patients and legal representatives. Patients are not allowed to grow marijuana in Florida.
- Only qualified physicians are permitted to certify patients for medical marijuana use. Qualified physicians can be searched
THE ABOVE STATEMENT WAS PUT OUT BY THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
A certifying doctor becomes an “expert” after taking a one hour, online course.
Woodstock Physicians and Staff and are required to attend mandatory educational updates and courses. And, we have already treated 1000’s of clients. We are physicians who have expertise in incorporating medicinal marijuana into your medical regimens. Many others are rubber stamp marijuana doctors. For example, a representative of a certification center in Longwood actually has targeted our Facebook page to advertise their facility on our page. How can you trust such a facility?
A certifying doctor must conduct a direct, physically present, history and physical for not just initial certification, but for all visits.
At Woodstock, our once a year, low certification fee permits our patient’s unlimited physician calls and visits as well as all medicinal marijuana orders. Other certification offices conduct illegal video-telemedicine, certification by non-physician healthcare workers – such as nurses and physicians’ assistants.
A certifying doctor may not have a business relationship with a dispensary. It is illegal to lease office space in or directly adjacent to a dispensary.
Woodstock has no relationship with any dispensary.
There are a number of physicians currently renting office space from dispensaries. This illegal practice is no different than a doctor with financial ties to a pharmaceutical company. And we know what this type of relationship produces
