3 Polk doctors now qualified to recommend cannabis

Polk County now has its first doctors who have been trained to administer medical marijuana.

By Gary White

LAKELAND — Polk County now has its first doctors who have been trained to administer medical marijuana.

At least three local doctors have completed a training program required before they can write recommendations for marijuana-based treatments. Two are internal medicine specialists and the third is a spine specialist.

Dr. Jeetendra Issar completed his training in July, and his wife, Dr. Rekha Issar, completed hers in August. Both practice with Doctor Today, a network of primary and urgent care clinics in Polk County.

Dr. Seth Kaufman, who practices with Heart of Florida Physician Group in Davenport, finished his training in August.

The Florida Legislature passed a law in 2014 allowing narrowly defined use of cannabis oil derived from plants bred to be low in THC, the compound that produces euphoric effects. The measure restricted access to patients with severe epilepsy or cancer.

The measure gave the Florida Department of Health responsibility for selecting companies to cultivate and distribute the cannabis oil and licensing doctors to write orders for patients. Originally scheduled to begin in January 2015, the program faced various delays and the first cannabis oil became available only in July.

The Legislature passed a measure this year allowing terminally ill Floridians to use marijuana — and not just the low-THC form — as a palliative in their final days.

The Department of Health requires doctors wishing to write orders for cannabis oil to complete eight hours of training and pass an examination. The Department’s Office of Compassionate Use began offering certifications last year, but until recently no doctors in Polk County had pursued the training.

Dr. Jeetendra Issar, a specialist in internal medicine and pediatrics, said he is familiar with the use of marijuana in his native India. He said parts of the marijuana plant have been employed for religious and palliative purposes for more than two millennia.

Issar said the benefits of marijuana to stimulate appetite and reduce pain and nausea have long been known. He said he is less familiar with use of the drug to control seizures for people with epilepsy.

“The best thing I have noticed, (and) why I want do this, was it will help with (reducing) narcotics abuse and pill mills, which is much more dangerous,” said Issar, who has practiced in the United States since 1994.

Issar said his wife, an internal medicine specialist, pursued the state certificate to provide a second recommendation for any patients he chooses to treat with medical marijuana. The Department of Health requires two doctors to diagnose a patient as terminally ill before marijuana can be ordered.
“So if I am alone in the county, it will be hard,” Jeetendra Issar said.

Issar said he has a new patient whose family has expressed interest in medical marijuana. He said the child’s parents experimented with cannabis oil in Colorado, where it has been legal for years.

Department of Health rules require a patient to be seen by a doctor for at least three months before an order for medical marijuana can be written.

Issar said he has about 10 patients who might qualify for treatment with marijuana.

Kaufman declined to comment.

More than 100 doctors have qualified to write recommendations for medical marijuana, according to the Florida Department of Health. Their specialties include internal medicine, pain management, rheumatology, gastroenterology, general surgery, anesthesiology, psychiatry and pediatrics.