A former Durango doctor who had her license suspended for prescribing too many medical marijuana plants to patients has won part of her legal appeal.
Deborah Parr was practicing psychiatry in Durango in 2016 when her license was suspended by the Colorado Medical Board because she recommended higher-than-normal marijuana plant counts to patients. Her medical license is still suspended, said Carmen Decker, an attorney representing Parr and another physician.
The Colorado Court of Appeals recently ruled a trial court has jurisdiction to hear Parr’s claims that the state health department and Colorado Medical Board may have violated open meetings law. The Court of Appeals reversed a previous ruling.
“I think this opinion is extremely important and critical to basically tell an agency that they don’t have unfettered power,” Decker said.
In front of a trial court, Decker said she can make a strong argument and expects a fair decision.
Parr was suspended along with three other Colorado doctors because she authorized hundreds of patients to have at least 75 marijuana plants when it was not medically necessary, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies said at the time. The standard plant count for a medical marijuana patient is six.
Attorneys representing Parr argue the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Medical Board worked together in secret to develop a rule governing the number of plants a doctor could authorize for patients, court records say.
An attorney for the Colorado Medical Board argued in 2016 the board was not charging the doctors with violating a 75-plant count rule.
Denver District Court Judge Ross Buchanan was convinced the rule was the issue, and two years later, the rule continues to be central in the case.
The appeal’s court ruled in 2018 that the trial court does not have jurisdiction in other issues in the case, such as the doctors’ rights under the Colorado Constitution to authorize marijuana for patients.
The state Attorney General’s Office could appeal the recent decision to the Colorado Supreme Court or the case could go directly to a trial court, Decker said.
The Attorney General’s Office and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment declined to comment on the case.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
