Doctors Open Medical Marijuana Evaluation Office

Written by Pam DeFiglio, Patch.com 

A Niles medical office is one of the first in the state to start performing medical evaluations in anticipation of patients being able to get medical marijuana after Jan. 1.

J. Rene Dadivas, M.D., and his two sons, Dr. Jesus R. Dadivas and Joe Dadivas, who has an MBA in healthcare management, have opened Green Bliss Clinic to screen patients who are interested in obtaining medical marijuana. Illinois passed a law Aug. 1 allowing people with specific medical problems to get regulated quantities of the drug under certain conditions. 

Earlier: Gov. Quinn To Sign Medical Marijuana Bill 

Dr. Rene Dadivas said he knew of only one other medical office in Illinois, in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, which has opened to evaluate patients for this purpose. 

Green Bliss will not cultivate nor dispense marijuana, nor even have any marijuana on the premises. Instead, the two doctors will evaluate and examine patients to see if they legitimately have one of the 33 debilitating medical conditions for which the Illinois law permits use of medical marijuana.

Follow this issue by liking Niles-Morton Grove Patch on Facebook and signing up to get Niles and Morton Grove news in a free daily email from Patch

"If they don’t have one of these diseases, they are not going to be qualified," said Dr. Rene Dadivas. 

Working closely with State of Illinois

The three of them have been communicating closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health's Health Promotions office, which gave them the go-ahead to open last month, Joe Dadivas said.

IDPH is still developing the rules for the medical marijuana process, he said. The law requires patients to have a "bona fide patient-physician relationship," and Joe Dadivas said IDPH invited them to give input as IDPH builds rules on what a bona fide patient-physician relationship is.

"First of all, there should be an official visit with a physician," said Dr. Rene Dadivas.  "The physician has to get a relevant (medical) history, review all records relevant to the problems, do a physical exam of the patient, do followup on the patient, establish our own medical record, and agree on privacy for HIPAA," he said.

Green Bliss charges patients $150 for that service, including the exam, and that fee is not covered by insurance, Dr. Rene Dadivas said. The fee is $75 for veterans.

"Nobody can just walk in here and say 'I have backaches, give me marijuana.' That’s not the way we do it. We have intake forms we developed ourselves," he commented.

"We have to have medical records to review."

Patients in pain, current drugs have side effects, they say

While they stress they are taking pains to work with the state department of public health and follow all the rules, both Joe and Dr. Rene Dadivas expressed compassion for the pain patients suffer.

Joe Dadivas said he got the idea for the clinic partly from a friend in his mid-30s in Texas who had late-stage cancer and could not get relief from conventional medical means. When doctors allowed him medical marijuana, however, his pain and nausea eased and his personality returned to his old self, Joe Dadivas said.

Dr. Rene Dadivas said marijuana could be an improvement over the drugs many patients are taking now.

"People don’t want to be tagged as-- what do you call it-- a pothead--but they’re suffering; a lot have been taking anti-psychotic drugs which make them zombie- like," he said.  "There have been extensive reports marijuana has dramatically reduced the usage of anti-psychotic medications and painkillers."

Anti-psychotic medications, as well as sedatives, tranquilizers, anti-depressants and narcotic painkillers are also addictive, he said, while Joe Dadivas said research suggests marijuana is not. 

Dr. Rene Dadivas said patients feel better, and are not zombie-like, when they use marijuana instead of those other drugs.

"We are not users, but I read about it and I have people who know," he said. 

They also said a synthetic marijuana drug, marinol, exists, in pill form, but that it takes longer for the pain-relieving properties to take effect than smoking or vaporizing marijuana. 

The procedure for getting medical marijuana

The Dadivases said that for patients who come in now, they perform a physical and medical evaluation and give them a statement, which indicates the Green Bliss office is building a recommendation for the patient to get a medical marijuana card.

The law doe not take effect until Jan. 1, and even after that, IDPH has 120 days to finalize the rule-making. Because much of that is not spelled out yet, Joe Dadivas said they will have to wait and see what the specifics will be.

In generalities, however, they expect patients will return to their office once IDPH establishes a procedure, and Green Bliss will give them a medical recommendation to receive medical marijuana. Then they will likely have to complete an IDPH application and use Green Bliss' recommendation to obtain a medical marijuana card.

State law says there will be only 60 dispensaries throughout the state, and 22 cultivation centers, they said. Dr. Rene Dadivas said he believes each patient's medical marijuana card will specify which dispensary they must go to to receive the medical marijuana.