Nursiepoo can be an A-hole sometimes, ok most times. I have, however, embarked on a strange journey. Fifteen months ago, I decided to do a little side practice that was nothing more than a couple of folks I have helped with primary care issues and cannabis certifications.

Utah is has a weird relationship with cannabis (He said as he feigns shock). There was a ton of resistance towards cannabis until the conservative folks in our state realized that you could make money off this practice. It is incredible how politics fly out the window when a real money-making opportunity arises. Don’t believe me? Look at what John Boehner (former House Speaker/Representative from Ohio) has done in the industry. Anyway, back to Utah. So providers are not allowed to advertise that they do cannabis certifications, except by maybe a green cross on their website. The new cannabis law created the rise of “referral services.”

So back in March, I started getting contacts for patients. I took the state-required courses to “recommend” cannabis (I can’t prescribe it because it’s schedule 1 and illegal on the federal level) and listed it on the state website of approved providers. Hilariously, my first three patients were octogenarians (that’s folks in their 80s). I was slightly shocked until I saw the levels of pain they were dealing with and the massive amount of opiates and other medications they needed for minimum function.

Enter a local cannabis referral service that set up shop in the “storeroom” of a compounding pharmacy and contacted medical providers qualified by the state to recommend cannabis.  This bunch was priceless, and like several providers, I hung out for a bit until I realized they were crap.  The only thing they didn’t do to break the law was to provide direct care with a licensed provider. In the end, when the investigation started, I left.

The guy who set it all up was, you guessed it, an opportunist who only saw this as a way to make money by providing a provider on the cheap and providing illegal product he trafficked from California.  At the time, he tried to pass this off as legal sale, although anyone who knows the law knows he was so incorrect.

So what’s the point? For those who choose to recommend cannabis and those who use medical cannabis, this type of person is the worst person to have in the mix.

Yes, be an entrepreneur, develop your own business and style.

Also, try to deal with things ethically.  Follow the law, even if you won’t make as much money doing it.  One of the central values we forgot in the process is ethics; we replaced it with entitlement. As a friend in the Army said, there are only two things I am entitled to do.  Stay black and die.  It applies no matter what color skin you have; the comment is aimed toward basic human behavior.  I can’t believe I have even spent three sentences explaining how this is not racist.

There are some racist things out there; this ain’t it.

I left that screwy service after speaking to a few agencies regarding this guy’s behavior. While I am not allowed to advertise about the realities of medical cannabis, people like this, who have no license to worry about, can say whatever the fuck they want.  Ever wonder why medical providers get tired of the BS? It is shit like this that limits them in their honesty and uses their services to make douchebags like this feel free to abuse the system.

This individual has a shady past and has found another way to commit fraud on cannabis patients and endanger the future of a medical cannabis program.

I walked away, gave my testimony, and never looked back on a position that I was told I would be paid “under the table.” In the end, I claimed it on my taxes, by estimate, and even though it costs money, I sleep at night.

The moral? If it seems too good to be true, it is.  Never sacrifice your ethics and do the right thing in everything you do, even if it means you won’t be rich.

This is being the kind of person your dog and your mom hope you are.