Intro (00:01):
Welcome to Health Law Talk, presented by Chehardy Sherman Williams health Law. Broken down through expert discussion, real client issues and real life experiences, breaking barriers to understanding complex healthcare issues is our job.

Conrad Meyer (00:20):
And good afternoon. Good morning whenever you’re listening to this. Welcome to another edition of Health Law Talk here at Chehardy Sherman Williams, where myself, Conrad Meyer, healthcare attorney, and the ever powerful, smart, intelligent co-host Rory Bellina. Say hello, Rory. Thank you for that introduction. I like that, huh? That was good. That was impressive. That was a good, I liked, I’m glad. Trying to be impressive. Keep that introduction up. You like that for me? You know, you feel good. You call me. You know. So, today Rory, we have two special guests in the studio today. Randy Mire, pharmacist Capital Wellness Solutions, and Dr. Rome Sherrod physician, both of y’all. Welcome to the show. We we, Rory, and I really appreciate you. How are y’all doing today?

Randy Mire (01:10):
We’re doing well. Thank you for having us. We really Appreciate you. Doing great. Thank you.

Conrad Meyer (01:11):
Yeah, well, that’s good. Well, today we have a very, very interesting topic. We’re gonna be talking about medical marijuana. I mean, I think, Rory, I know you get questions about this. I get questions about this. And, and we decided to reach out to the two experts here in Louisiana that are dealing with this. Randy if you wanna tell the audience a little bit about your background and, and Capital Wellness, and then Dr. Sherrod can chime in. Tell us about medical marijuana. What, what is it, what does Capital Wellness, what do you do, Randy? And then I’ll go to the doctor.

Randy Mire (01:42):
Yes, sir. Thank you for that. super happy to be here with you guys today. You know, being a pharmacist in Louisiana, I own several pharmacies throughout the state and ship specialty medications to many states. Medical marijuana excited me because we treated no different than a specialty medication. when this came to our state several years ago, I knew it was gonna be regulated by the pharmacy board. I knew that we run very accredited pharmacies. We were on the cutting edge with specialty meds. And I looked at this as something good to do for the community and to be able to help patients. I’m so proud that we got one of the first licenses here. We dispensed the first product to any patient in Louisiana. And I tout that throughout the country saying we actually dispense the first product in the deep South as I go through other states and help educate not only physicians, but legislators on medical marijuana

Conrad Meyer (02:34):
Now. And that’s a great, and, and that’s what Capital Wellness does. Yes, sir. Okay. And Capital Wellness. Just so that the listeners know that is the name of the, the pharmacies that you have

Randy Mire (02:43):
That, so, capital Wellness is the medical marijuana dispensary. I got it. Okay. And it’s located in Baton Rouge. we have the capital region. There’s 10 permitted pharmacies throughout the whole state. Okay. We’re one of those 10.

Conrad Meyer (02:58):
Got it. In a pharmacy dispensary, I mean, am I saying the right lingo? What, what’s the difference? Is it there any difference? And

Randy Mire (03:04):
Don’t know, there is no great question. So your, your traditional pharmacy will service you with all your medications. Right. These 10 pharmacies that are placed throughout the state only service you from medical marijuana. And

Conrad Meyer (03:15):
These are brick and mortar.

Randy Mire (03:16):
They’re brick and mortar. Okay. When you come to our site, you will be educated and sit down with a pharmacist if you choose mm-hmm. , or you could go online and look at the several products we offer and, and pick what’s good for you. Rather, it’s wanting to sleep good at night live with less anxiety, whatever it may be. Right. And, and that’s one thing that we’ll get into later is, you know, who’s, who’s our average patient? What does that look like? Right. And, but I will tell you this pharmacy just has medical marijuana products being a pharmacist and owning other pharmacies that service a variety of patients, that’s what excites me, because I see the difference we make in patients’ lives with this therapy. Just medical marijuana.

Conrad Meyer (03:55):
So it’s not just you’re dispensing, you’re also educating along with, with the doctor, which we’ll get to in a minute.

Randy Mire (04:00):
Correct? Yes, sir. Absolutely.

Conrad Meyer (04:01):
And, and, and I guess, when did the first, I guess, Mari medical marijuana prescription, when was that dispensed? Here in Louisiana?

Randy Mire (04:09):
Yes, sir. That was August of 2019. capital Wellness, my dispensary was the first to do that in the state. That was to a cancer patient, Uhhuh . We actually service the cancer patient and the first veteran here in Louisiana.

Conrad Meyer (04:23):
So it’s been about three years now.

Randy Mire (04:25):
Yes, sir.

Conrad Meyer (04:26):
And, and, and since then, h how has the medical marijuana pharmacy business from, from capital’s perspective, from what you can say, has it, how much has it grown? A lot, little, I mean, are we, are we seeing more and more every year? What’s, what’s sort of the, the, the

Randy Mire (04:40):
Pattern here? You know, we’ve had several hurdles. So when the license were first given out mm-hmm. , we had limited Diagnosises, very limited. We didn’t even have chronic pain in the very beginning. Okay. And that’s an area that we see helps patients so much where they reduce all their other meds. They’re not taking as many opiates. What we got that approved right when, before the program was launching. And then we just didn’t have many products. You know, patients only had few choices between tinctures some vape devices. The program is involved so much to now. Today we have a full line of therapy. one year ago is when Smokeable flour launched, and about 60% of the patients that come to us prefer that. So mm-hmm. , prior to flour where they could get the smokable form, it was just a lot limited. patients, the reason they prefer that treatment choice the most is because of the immediate onset. You know, we could give them tinctures, we could give them gummies, vapes, vapes work fast as well. But flour, you just get the fast onset.

Conrad Meyer (05:44):
What’s, what’s a tincture? I, I’ve never

Randy Mire (05:45):
Heard of that. A tincture? Yes. So it’s a, it’s a little vial of liquid that has T HC in it. Okay. And N C B D combo, Uhhuh , it’s a big misconception. People don’t realize that.

Conrad Meyer (05:54):
Just pulled it up on the screen. That’s what that is.

Randy Mire (05:56):
That’s it. That is,

Conrad Meyer (05:58):
Wow.

Randy Mire (05:58):
Look at that. And for the first two years, that was pretty much all we had last January, one year ago is when flower became available, and that’s when the program really exploded.

Conrad Meyer (06:07):
Wow. So, I mean, do you see, I mean, we only have 10 dispensaries in the entire state. I mean, I know that, that that was political. Some people say Right. They’re not expanding this. I mean, y’all, y’all, you’re gonna have, it’s only gonna be 10 dispensaries. I mean,

Randy Mire (06:23):
You know, we did do an expansion because we wanted more cases.

Conrad Meyer (06:25):
Oh, you did? Okay. I didn’t see, I didn’t know that. So, yes, sir. So how does, how did that work?

Randy Mire (06:28):
So last year, the program expanded. Okay. And went ahead in mirrored with some other states do, like Florida, where you have satellite. So the 10 of us, once you meet these milestones from a patient, demand you, it’s a triggering event for a satellite location. So we went from 10 to 30 in the state. Did you

Conrad Meyer (06:47):
Know that, Roy? I did not. I did not know that at all. Yes, sir. So you have to, so let me so you’re governed by the Board of Pharmacy, correct? Yes, sir. So do you have to go to them and say, Hey, is it the pharmacy that controls the dispensary or is it something else? I don’t even, I don’t know that answer

Randy Mire (07:00):
Either. No, the board is our regulating body. Okay. Do they monitor as each dispensary reaches 3,500 patients? Oh, did they trigger your second license? Once that dispensary gets 3,500 patients, you’re triggered for the third.

Conrad Meyer (07:13):
So when you say license, cuz I mean, I’m familiar with controlled CDs licenses, right? Mm-hmm. with doctors. And I’m, I’m familiar with the pharmacy license in the state. So this is a special purpose license for this?

Randy Mire (07:24):
It is. It’s a, a therapeutic marijuana permit.

Conrad Meyer (07:27):
Gotcha.

Randy Mire (07:28):
Okay. So you, you get a, a permit what, what’s that triggering event happens. So

Conrad Meyer (07:33):
As very interesting. So let me ask, so let’s go to the clinician side, doctor, Dr. Sherrod, tell me, first off, let’s go in and talk about your practice. Tell me the name of the practice again.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (07:42):
Yes, it’s Transformative Health Centers and we’re based out of Baton Rouge. Okay. And it’s just been a wonderful experience. I’m just give you a little history. Yes. basically I, I work as a an emergency room doctor, and I do that as my other job. And it’s just been really, really a step in the right direction. Cuz we have a lot of patients that suffer from chronic pain. We see them in the emergency room. Right. And we are trying to get away from the narcotics and basically opioids. Right. And the, the crisis that’s out there. So, you know, what happened basically is I was at home and I had an individual next to me, Mr. Randy, he came by and said, Hey, you know I am, I’m with capital Wellness, I’m a pharmacist and we’re gonna be starting a medical marijuana program in the state of Louisiana. And I was like, what is this?

Conrad Meyer (08:38):
Right.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (08:38):
You know, tell me a little bit more. So time passed and we actually got together and started working together as far as getting, getting the knowledge out and the wisdom as far as the medical thc.

Conrad Meyer (08:51):
So your clinic, is it, it’s you, you’re, you’re the, you’re the guy that

Dr. Rome Sherrod (08:54):
I’m, I’m the, the man.

Conrad Meyer (08:55):
You’re the . So when, and, and, and, you know, speaking of, of ER physicians, my wife’s an ER physician, so, oh, wow. Okay. So I mean, I can see the, the, the difference. I can understand where you’re coming from when you talk about how you came into play. Yes. With starting this, this business patient comes to you in the er or do you have a separate clinic? Or how does it

Dr. Rome Sherrod (09:18):
Work? Yes. I do not do the recommendations from the emergency room. Got it. What I do is what we do is we have to do advertisement and referrals. And basically patients will see you in our advertisement. that the the actual recommendation qualifications. Okay. At first we started off, like you said, with about 10. one would be anxiety, one was tractable pain. those were several of the ones that they had. So basically what happened is, from there, they will call or contact our, our company and we’ll set them up. I have a secretary that helps handle that as well. And we get their information. And then what we do is a formal interview where we talk with them and we go over the medications and see if it’s something that will help them, help them with their

Conrad Meyer (10:05):
Needs. So you look at h and p and get the, the background what’s going on with them and sort of do an evaluation. Exactly. And then you decide clinically if they’re, you know, eligible for the program. Mm-hmm. and then, and then they, and then, so then it’s just a lock step into Randy’s program at Capital Wellness? Correct. You gotta refer it to Randy, correct?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (10:23):
Yes. So what basically happens is the patient will fill out their application, right. We’ll do an interview, we’ll talk, and then from there, what we do is I will write this thing called a recommendation. Okay. That recommendation is sent to the dispensary. we usually send our patients, cause I’m in the Baton Rouge area Capital Wellness. And from there the patient will go into the dispensary and get their medication see get the recommendation verified from the pharmacy. And what I really love about the program, and it’s just a progression in the right direction, is that we also, it’s a double verification. You’ve got the doctor that actually talks to the patient Right. And does the h and p and the information. Then from there we go to the pharmacy, the dispensary, and the pharmacist actually will sit down with them and go over the medications as well. As far as the dosing and what works best. Cause you’ve got several strands, strains actually. And then you also have different concentrations that work differently for the patients in particular.

Rory Bellina (11:24):
Dr. Sherrod, I had a question about that. Sure. So, you know, and, and we’re looking at your website right now, or, or patients will come in, and I know Randy briefly spoke about how there was this expansion where, I believe it started with 16 approved conditions by the state legislator. And then they expanded it. They added on chronic pain that you mentioned. Then they added like a catch-all, which was kind of like, I believe as doctors thought it was necessary to recommend. I know like Louisiana, it seems it’s going in the right step and expanding on this use. When a patient comes in and they, they see you and they go through everything that you mentioned and you give the recommendation, do you, do they get a card per se? Or is it, and then, or if they don’t, what goes over to Capital Wellness? Do you say, I recommend a tincture or the smokeable form, or is that decided once they get to the pharmacy or the dispensary?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (12:16):
Yes. That’s a very good question. What we do at this time is we actually do write the recommendation. And what I do is I send that recommendation to the dispensary. In the state of Louisiana, there is not a card. we are really hoping one day that it will be included with the LA wallet. That would make too much sense. Sure. But, but you’ve gotta, you know, make your baby steps. Sure. So basically what we do is I give them documentation that they are part of the program. I’ll usually send an email to them and they can print out or what have you. And that is come into play. And a lot of times if you’re have a situation with your job or what have you, you need to have some kind of verification documentation. So we do that as well.

Rory Bellina (12:56):
Okay. And so then they go to Capital Wellness and they discuss with the staff there what type to get or, or do you recommend that?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (13:05):
that goes, we work hand in hand, actually. Okay. Okay. It’s a protocol. We actually, what’ll happen is I’ll have a recommendation. I’ll give the diagnosis that I feel is appropriate for that patient. From there, the actual dispensary will, the pharmacist will receive the recommendation. They’ll look at the diagnosis, and then from there they’ll kind of decide the concentration. Several factors come to play. One is the diagnosis, but two, the other thing that we always look for is the experience of the patient. You know, there’s certain concentrations for different patients. And then the strains also have a

Rory Bellina (13:37):
Come to play. See, that’s so much different to me when I think of, I go see a physician, they say, you need, you know, Tylenol 300 and go to the pharmacy and the pharmacy says, yes, we have Tylenol 300. Here it is. And that’s kind of it. But this is, this is very different. And that the, the pharmacy or the dispensary really has a say. And, and I know that we’ve, we’ve had an episode with pharmacists about this before where they’ve, they’ve said that they wanted more of an active role in actually deciding what the patient got because they’re specialized, they go to school, you know, just for kind of the drugs portion. And that, you know, sometimes the physicians don’t know as much about the drugs as, as they do. So this is really interesting to hear that, you know, it, it, it allows the dispensary and the pharmacist there to have a say in that. Yes.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (14:25):
That is so true. it’s, it is been a big change for me. A as a primary care physician and er physician, I’ve, it’s been wonderful to be able to work hand in hand with the pharmacist. I talked to them. I had, they have my phone number and I have theirs. We talk and discuss and we go over treatment plans for the patients. And that working together has been a good step in the right direction. And I really think that’s something that we should do more of as

Rory Bellina (14:51):
Far as going in the health

Randy Mire (14:52):
Profession. I can comment a little bit on that too, because we found the reason that was such a necessity in this space is because as products were available, certain products are more available, certain aren’t. So a few physicians would say, we’re adamant about our patient having this specific product. Well, that one may not be available next month. Or the patient may build up tolerance to that and need something a little stronger. It was so much more convenient for the patient for us to sit with them and say, okay, your, your condition’s changed a little bit. You maybe have built up a little tolerance. You need to use it more often. We could go ahead and give you this one now because this is available.

Rory Bellina (15:28):
That’s really, yeah. I mean, that just, this is the first time that I’ve, I’ve ever heard where, you know, the, the pharmacist actually has a say in the medicine that, that the patient gets or is recommended.

Randy Mire (15:39):
There’s so many different products in this space. It’s hard for, it would be so, such a task for a physician to say, we’re, we’re locking you into this specific one. The strand may change. Many things change. So the way we view it as a therapeutic marijuana recommendation, you’re, you’re authorizing the patient to receive therapeutic marijuana. And when they come see us, they get that, regardless of which form they get it. Edible Smokeable vape is up to the patient. Sure.

Rory Bellina (16:08):
Well, Randy, one question that, that I had for, for you is, this is, I wanna say relatively new to Louisiana. Other states are, have been a lot more progressive with it and are allowing it for recreational uses. Can you elaborate on, on where you see that going and you know, I guess, what are you hearing a about if it, is it gonna move to a recreational use? Dr. Shroud, I’d love to hear your opinions on do you think that’s a good idea or, or not? Mm-hmm. . And, and, and, and also, I’d love to hear your opinions on, you know, this verse kind of like the, the street prices or the, the street programs. Why is it so much better if you need this to, to go see an actual physician, to get a recommendation verse buying it off the street?

Randy Mire (16:49):
You know, basic, to sum up all of those answers, it’s around quality and testing. All of our products have been tested. They have been approved by a lab. Many products that we see that come in from other states or across state lines or recreational use, black market use don’t have the same testing protocols. So,

Rory Bellina (17:08):
So that’s why essentially you’re gonna, you’re gonna pay more to get it from a center like yours.

Randy Mire (17:13):
I’ve had patients in our lobby, we’ve had patients when the media is there on camera, even students from lsu everyone from our common patients that will be in our lobby and say, we don’t mind paying a little more Absolutely. To know what we’re getting. We know that this is a guaranteed product that has not been tampered anyway. And it ha and we’re getting exactly what we’re buying.

Conrad Meyer (17:33):
So you can’t just come in and say, I want the, the Purple Mountain , you know, or something. I can’t, I can’t come in and say, I want, I want this, this, this, you know, whatever. Some kind of crazy name weed.

Rory Bellina (17:44):
No, I think it’s really imp I think it’s really important.

Conrad Meyer (17:46):
It’s all based on, on potency. I, I don’t

Randy Mire (17:48):
Know what it’s, but you could actually do that. I mean, we have, you can, oh yes, we have all different, we have Jenny Kush, we have all kind of names. Okay. And

Conrad Meyer (17:56):
Should now that’s something I didn’t know either. Yeah. Did you know that Roy?

Rory Bellina (17:59):
I did not. Yeah.

Randy Mire (18:00):
If you go to my website and you hit the online Yep.

Rory Bellina (18:02):
Ordering. We’re looking at it right now. You could,

Conrad Meyer (18:05):
They baked apple pie.

Randy Mire (18:06):
Yes, sir. So there

Conrad Meyer (18:07):
Is nine pound hammer. Yeah. What

Randy Mire (18:09):
Is that? That what’s really good for sleeping? So we, this is the thing that’s amazing. If you walk into capital right now, you’ll see the average patient that comes to us is a 51 year old female. Really? And that 51 year old female always tells us the reason they’re there. They wanna sleep good at night. They want to have less anxiety. Okay. So that non pound hammer that you just seen, it’s really good vape device. People will usually use that 30 minutes before bedtime. They’ll u vape on it, you know, two vapes and they’re good. They sleep like babies. Really?

Rory Bellina (18:43):
Okay.

Conrad Meyer (18:44):
I had no idea

Rory Bellina (18:45):
What is,

Conrad Meyer (18:46):
How many they, what like how many varieties do

Randy Mire (18:48):
You have? You see ’em there bud. And it changes every day. Five.

Conrad Meyer (18:51):
He said, wait, did I see that five, no, 500 and no, that’s not 510. How many varieties I’m looking at now?

Randy Mire (18:57):
That’s a five 10 thread. So that attaches to a vape device. Oh. If you go up right there, I’ll walk you through it real quick.

Conrad Meyer (19:03):
So go, go up Roy website.

Randy Mire (19:04):
Look at this. This is our online catalog that is all of the flowers. So you could scroll to the side right there, and you’ll see all the different flower types we have. That is what’s called your smokable flour. So you’re gonna Gotcha. You’re gonna roll that yourself or you’re gonna smoke it.

Conrad Meyer (19:17):
So you get this from the

Randy Mire (19:19):
Growers. Yes, sir.

Conrad Meyer (19:20):
And there’s only two growers in the whole state, right? Yes, sir. That LSU and Southern. Yes,

Randy Mire (19:24):
Sir.

Conrad Meyer (19:25):
Wow. Look at all that stuff. Yeah. I make a ghost melted ice cream. Now let me ask you this. Does the, do the growers make the names up or when you get them you say, I’m gonna create this one. What, what, how does it

Randy Mire (19:37):
Work? It’s named after the strand. So all of this is specific to the strand and how it’s been grown.

Conrad Meyer (19:41):
Okay. Okay. Dang. Okay. I, I learned something new today.

Rory Bellina (19:44):
So I have a, a more, more practical question. Cause I’m just thinking about this for, for the everyday consumer, right. Two things that I’m sure Dr. Sherod, you get a lot of questions about are, what if my work finds out, what do I tell my boss? Can I, very

Conrad Meyer (19:59):
Good question.

Rory Bellina (19:59):
Can I drive, can I operate heavy machinery? Right. you know, what is your conversation with the patients about that part of this? And then also the insurance part. I’d love for both of y’all to talk about how that’s evolved in Louisiana or what the current status. I just honestly don’t

Dr. Rome Sherrod (20:15):
Know. Yes. It’s a very, very good question. at the very beginning, it was a large gray zone. several things that we use for criteria as far as usage. We do ask and screen our patients. we, we just don’t hand it out to everybody. Sure. Wanna make sure that, you know, they do qualify. But some of your reasons we would not prescribe it or age. I don’t write for anybody under the age of 18. Okay. Number two, pregnancy. It’s a big question. Sure. Big, big variable. and also your work, your, your job. And that’s where it becomes personal. At Transformer Health Center. You talk to me Sure. So I can kind of guide you through and everything. And there have been people that I said, Hey, look, you’re operating an explosives truck or whatever. I don’t think that’s a good idea for you to do it. Okay. I’ve had big fortune 500 companies that are here in the area that I’ve actually been able to work with their compliance and figure out what, you know, they would like and everything. Sure. As far as, you know, having a plan for the people that work with you know, equipment and Sure. And stuff that needs to be watched and monitored.

Rory Bellina (21:23):
What I, what I was thinking of was the example of, you mentioned like for anxiety. So if this is something that someone comes in and you recommend it to them for anxiety, and let’s say it’s the, the smoke form and they smoke before they go to work. Yes. You know, do, is that going to affect them driving to work, performing their job duties? I assume that’s all things that you, you go over with them. Oh, yes, yes, yes. So they understand, you know, can you do your job while you’re on this?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (21:49):
Yes. And the answer to your question is, these patients are able to perform with the medication. A lot of times if there’s something where they’re handling heavy machinery or heavy equipment, we do put some stipulations. I’ve even drawn up contracts or whatever Oh wow. With their employers where they agree not to you know, use the medication eight hours prior to work. So if they have something where they have insomnia or whatever they need to get rest, they kind of we have a contract where they’ll take it before 10 o’clock Sure. And not eight hours. Sure. you know,

Conrad Meyer (22:22):
Before, and that’s driving too. I mean, driving a car.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (22:24):
Exactly, yes.

Conrad Meyer (22:25):
Okay. Ha has the do y’all, I was gonna ask y’all that and, and maybe Randy, y’all can comment on this mm-hmm. , I know we have the alcohol limitation, you know, you know, you have to be 0.08. Sure. Mm-hmm. or less, right. Or less than that maybe, I don’t know. But have they done something with THC in Louisiana? I mean, is it

Randy Mire (22:41):
So you can’t measure it like that? It

Conrad Meyer (22:43):
Can’t. Okay. I I don’t, I don’t know.

Randy Mire (22:44):
It, it’s absorbed in your fat cells, uhhuh, . So regardless if you use it 10 minutes ago or 10 days ago, it doesn’t matter. Show the same.

Rory Bellina (22:51):
Oh,

Conrad Meyer (22:52):
Interesting. Interesting. I I didn’t know that

Randy Mire (22:53):
Either. Now there are some tests out here coming outta Canada that are, are supposed to be improving that. Right. And you could tell more. So if a patient’s under the influence right away, the the main thing to kind of answer some of the questions that you had was, you know, we, this no different than any other medication. Okay. So a patient that’s working in a plant that’s operating heavy machinery that’s been authorized to be on oxycodone because they’re in pain. Yeah. If they take too many of those pills, or you even take too many Tylenol, you’re, you’re not gonna function. Right. This is no different. Many of our products have C B D in them along with thc and the CBD helps counteract the fact that you’re gonna have this big high Okay. Patients that use this Correct. Do not get high. Exactly. they can use it if they, they, they want to use more of it, but if they’re just taking small doses during the day while they’re at work they function completely fine. Exactly.

Conrad Meyer (23:49):
Interesting. So, I mean, and so I’ve been seeing CBD versus thc. What’s, what’s, what’s the difference? because I don’t

Randy Mire (23:57):
Know. Yeah. It’s a big thing right now. So cbd, they do allow a tiny bit of THC to be in that. It’s okay. 0.1 if you buy it over the counter. We always view that as an entry level for a patient. A patient that may CBDs great for inflammation, CBDs great to help relax you. But when it’s in combo with thc, you, that’s when you see the ultimate effect.

Conrad Meyer (24:17):
I see. I see. Okay.

Rory Bellina (24:18):
So what’s the difference between going to see Dr. Sherod and I know where this answer’s going, but I wanna ask you for our listeners, go and see Dr. Sherod giving a recommendation, going to you, Randy talking to your pharmacist, and then someone saying, well, I’m just gonna go to the gas station and get the Delta nine or whatever. They’re blinking on the side.

Conrad Meyer (24:35):
Yeah. Yeah. Cause you see that everywhere.

Rory Bellina (24:36):
And, and I, I feel like I keep seeing it at more and more places. Even like my neighborhood gas station across from a school. I’m like, what is

Conrad Meyer (24:43):
This stuff? Not just the neighborhood. I mean, I see it on trucks like down in the quarter. Yeah. I mean, they’re all over the

Rory Bellina (24:48):
Place. So can y’all talk about what that is and, and how it differentiates from both your

Randy Mire (24:52):
Models? Yeah. So once again, it goes back to the quality. Okay. Okay. You know what you’re getting right? You’re, you’re getting therapeutic doses with us. Many of the times those things are not dosed correctly. it, it, we don’t view that as a therapeutic alternative. Okay. With us, you have a true therapeutic alternative. I hear there’s some things legislators are furious with some of that stuff happening. Sure. And I think we’re gonna see some of that changing in the near future where gas stations are not just carrying these random products. Right. Right. and it goes back to quality and safety for the patient. Sure. When you come to us, you’re guaranteed quality and safety. And that’s what I would focus on.

Conrad Meyer (25:27):
Got it.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (25:27):
Got it. And guidance yeah. That, that, that’s really big. So one question I had, and, and I know we could spend the whole episode on this, is insurance. What’s the status with insurance with this?

Conrad Meyer (25:38):
Good question.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (25:39):
Yes. currently it’s fee for service cash. Okay. There’s no insurance due to the federal guidelines. Okay. at this particular time, no, no insurance carriers cover it

Rory Bellina (25:52):
Covering for or covering for the evalu, like your evaluation, your recommendation or for getting it filled per se at a

Dr. Rome Sherrod (25:59):
Pharmacy. Both of ’em, it’s, it, it’s not covered Tesla.

Conrad Meyer (26:01):
What? Cash business? Just cash business. Okay.

Rory Bellina (26:03):
Okay. Any that’s gotta be different for you. You know, you come from like the traditional pharmacy per se to go into this. So I’m sure there’s been some learning curves and going into that model.

Randy Mire (26:13):
Absolutely. You know, dealing with the PBMs and, and we find many of times the PBMs, you know, they, they charge the employer a lot larger price. So if the insurance ever did get into this, it would ultimately raise the cost for all the employers. And that’s what people don’t realize. At the end of the day, PBMs, they’re, they’re not saving the, the consu. They may save the consumer a little bit, it appears, but overall it costs money for

Conrad Meyer (26:36):
Everything. We can do an entire episode, Randy, on PBMs. Absolutely. I would love. Well, I mean, I don’t know if you want to do that with us, but I, I can tell you right now, I would love to do that because I’m right there with you on PBMs. And I think people have no idea. They do not. They don’t. They do not. They

Randy Mire (26:52):
Really don’t. At the end of the day, it raises the cost for

Conrad Meyer (26:54):
Everyone and that’s not what they were there intentionally. So, you know, that’s not what they were created. Exactly.

Rory Bellina (26:59):
And I think that that’s, that’s, that’s hard with this industry kicking off because Yeah. You know, I look at, I I’m looking at, you know something that’s a pre-rolled

Conrad Meyer (27:10):
I’m looking at Mandarin cookies.

Rory Bellina (27:11):
Yeah. It looks like it’s a cookie, which I can’t tell how large it is or how long that’ll last. It sounds

Conrad Meyer (27:15):
Like, like a cookie. It’s a cookie.

Rory Bellina (27:16):
It’s, it’s $60 cash or you can get a 30 day supply of Percocets for $5. So I mean, Dr. Sherod, can you talk about how you, or if you do, I don’t wanna answer for you prescribing this verse opioids or, or you know, I, I know these are controlled on the federal level, but this verse your standard controlled substance, what are your Yes. Like how has your practice shifted?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (27:38):
It has shifted a lot. my personal satisfaction as being a physician has changed over the last three years. You know, when I have patients that are receiving pain opioids or what have you, it’s a constant cycle of you having to go up on the dosing. There are a lot of side effects that go along with it. Sometimes, you know, we have patients that become addicted to the medications and they also start, you know, developing a tolerance. And I’ve had a really, really good, you know, patient base that has been able to get off of the actual opioids and use just the thc. And one of the things that we really love about the T medical THC is that it’s one of those things if you want to stop or if you need to take a break from it, you’re not gonna suffer from the withdrawals that you would from the opioids.

Rory Bellina (28:28):
And, and Randy, I don’t wanna listeners to forget, you’re, you’re a pharmacist. So you’ve been on both sides of this of mm-hmm. filling opioids and with your traditional pharmacy and, and now this, what are your thoughts on when you saw a scripts for Percocet verse a recommendation for

Randy Mire (28:41):
This? Yeah, it’s amazing. I will tell you, working with so many of the chronic pain docs, they love medical marijuana. Mm-hmm. . And the reason is they get a lot of pressure on them with the state to not prescribe so many right.

Conrad Meyer (28:53):
Hills. The new, the new pain regs are just absolutely

Randy Mire (28:56):
Right. They’re unbelievable. Yes. And they, even, they, many of the physicians complain to me, they’re like, you know, the state board and ju around the country. It’s not just Louisiana, it’s everywhere. The, the DEA is putting pressure on them to not have patients on opioids and a benzo. They make them choose which product are you gonna take. And they don’t like that. So that Right. They’re happy they can give them therapeutic marijuana.

Conrad Meyer (29:16):
Well, the pendulum is swung though, Randy. I mean, remember that the pa, we had the fifth vital sign, and I know you did this Dr. Shred. So we had the fifth vital sign that was you, you were trained to treat the fifth, fifth vital son, which is pain. Pain. And now after the opioid crisis, the pendulum has swung completely on the other side. It has. And, and so now you’ve got pain docs. I’ve got pain doc clients who are no longer pain docs. Mm-hmm. because they can’t practice for fear of, you

Dr. Rome Sherrod (29:39):
Know, making the regulations.

Conrad Meyer (29:40):
Right. Yes,

Randy Mire (29:41):
Exactly. But I will tell you, the patients,

Conrad Meyer (29:42):
And that robs the patients.

Randy Mire (29:43):
It does, it robs the patients. But many of them have started using therapeutic ME marijuana so much that now the doc will focus on their injections, will focus on treating them holistically without just pills and incorporate therapeutic marijuana. It’s amazing. The result.

Conrad Meyer (30:00):
Let me ask you this and then, and if he, if he can talk about this medical marijuana, because it’s approved by the state mm-hmm. , how does that interact with federal controlled dangerous substance license? Does it even come into play?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (30:13):
It does. I do have a lot of patients that I’ve had to actually turn away that do they truckers they do a lot of cross interstate Oh, I see. Activity. And

Conrad Meyer (30:25):
So it’s gotta be Louisiana resident.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (30:26):
Yes. Le let’s go over that as

Conrad Meyer (30:28):
Well. That’s, yeah. Cause I think that’s really important.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (30:29):
Mm-hmm. , one of the requirements of the medical THC program at this particular time is that you have to be a state resident of Louisiana. Okay. And your borders are the state of Louisiana as far as you being able to use your medical, medical thc. So

Conrad Meyer (30:46):
So then CDs doesn’t come into play. Is that right? I don’t know.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (30:50):
it, it, the control, yeah, it does. Because if you I’m, I’m making sure I’m saying the right thing. When they’re if you’re driving the truck or what have you, you cannot cross state law.

Conrad Meyer (31:01):
State line. Yes

Dr. Rome Sherrod (31:02):
Sir. I’m sorry.

Conrad Meyer (31:02):
I didn’t. So, so cuz once you cross into Mississippi or Texas then, and, and it’s not legal. Let’s say it’s not, I don’t know if it’s legal there or not, but if it’s not mm-hmm. , then now you’re in a, in a place where you could be arrested and you could Exactly. I

Dr. Rome Sherrod (31:14):
See. And I’ve, that’s one of the things that the patients always ask, well, can I take this out of the country? Can I go on a plane? Oh yeah. No. And the answer is no. But you’ll be surprised. Patients still think that that’s okay. And

Conrad Meyer (31:27):
But my doctor told me I could go to Miami.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (31:30):
No, no, no, no. And that’s one of the one thing wonderful things being with transformative health centers and being the doctor to be able to talk with them. I do give advice as far as not just the medical standpoint, but how you conduct yourself Right. In, in with the rules and regulations that they have as far as

Conrad Meyer (31:45):
Patients. So one the questions I have, so I come to see you doctor, and I get my prescription. I go to see Randy, he gives me mandarin cookies and or whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever you tell me. I get Randy, I’m I’m just saying that cuz it’s sitting right there on the TV on the screen. Rory, has it pulled up? Is it a one prescription time deal? I mean, I mean, can you order refills? I mean, how often do I have to go back to Dr. Sherod if I need to go back? How does that work?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (32:07):
Yes. So what we do with Transformative Health Center is we actually, I build a rapport with the patients. Like I said, they all have my phone number to call me at any time if they need anything. They re the renewal is one year each year. I have patients that have called me multiple times during that year and I have some people that call me at the end of the year, you know, and what we do from there is we go over, are you having any reactions to the medication? Is there anything we can do as a physician and as the dispenser we, because we work well together as far as making changes and improving your, your, your your experience with the medical

Rory Bellina (32:43):
Thc. So your recommendation is for one year. So does that encounter as example, he’s allowed to go into the pharmacy every day and buy at his discretion? How does that work, Randy?

Randy Mire (32:55):
We do have limits. Okay. So if we see a patient climbing up to the state limits, we, we will tailor that down. So, okay. Well, I will tell you though, we don’t really run into that. Okay. The patient’s,

Conrad Meyer (33:04):
So the state

Randy Mire (33:05):
Has a limit. They do have a limit. I

Conrad Meyer (33:07):
See. But it’s per patient.

Randy Mire (33:07):
It’s it’s pretty high. It’s on a monthly basis. They can only consume so much. Got

Rory Bellina (33:11):
It. I see. Okay. So you, you, you’re tracking that internally to know that Conrad is here the other day he got this, so he really shouldn’t be coming back for two weeks. And

Randy Mire (33:20):
We really, we really don’t run into that. No. I will tell you, the only time we, if a patient’s coming in to try to buy so much at one time mm-hmm. , then we’re like, okay, are

Rory Bellina (33:30):
You traveling somewhere buying for friends? That’s what I would say.

Conrad Meyer (33:33):
Is it actually in a script, like an actual script on a pad? Like you say, here you go and, and you give the patient to give the Randy

Dr. Rome Sherrod (33:39):
No, the re that’s another thing. I’m glad you asked

Conrad Meyer (33:41):
That question. See? Good question. I like

Dr. Rome Sherrod (33:43):
That. That was phenomenal. The actual recommendation is sent as a secured fax to the actual dispensary. Okay.

Conrad Meyer (33:50):
So the patient never touches

Dr. Rome Sherrod (33:50):
It. Yes. The patient does not touch it. They do not go in with their script and say, Hey, I’m ready to get my medical

Randy Mire (33:55):
Tc. Okay. So there’s no chance for tampering right now.

Conrad Meyer (33:57):
That, that, that was what I was thinking. So, and

Rory Bellina (33:59):
Randy, you were talking, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I apologize. Yeah. I’m talking about your controls internally. If someone walks in and they say, I wanna buy one of everything,

Randy Mire (34:07):
You know, you know, we’ve had that happen once you know, with a dis distillate, somebody wanted to come in and buy a hundred vials,

Conrad Meyer (34:13):
A hundred vials,

Randy Mire (34:14):
No

Conrad Meyer (34:14):
Way. We can’t do that.

Randy Mire (34:15):
No way. We didn’t let ’em do that. Sure. Okay. And I mean, they wound up getting five. They were worried because they love the product so much they were not trying to sell it, they weren’t giving it to family. They were just scared that it would be in short supply. Okay. But we still limited that because, you know, the, the board would never want us to do that. So we, we limited them. I think they maybe wound up getting three. Okay. Because that would last them for 30 days. Okay. But they’re allowed. So we, we look at how often it would last them. If, if they’re getting a product that maybe will just last them five days, then of course they could come back. But we do monitor that internally. And

Rory Bellina (34:47):
This is just, I keep going back to like the traditional prescription model. Cause that’s all that I’ve known. This is so different because the patients be able to walk in and say, Randy, I didn’t like the cookie. I, I need something different. Or it made me too tired at night and I couldn’t wake up the next morning. And at your team is then able to change it up with them and they’re not stuck with that script or having to go back to see Dr. Shero,

Randy Mire (35:10):
We’re able to change it because all strands work different. Some may make them more alert. and, and we try to educate them in the beginning, but everybody reacts different to medical marijuana. And that is why we have the position to be able to alter the dose, give them something different. They may prefer non pound hammer, maybe non pound hammer was too strong. Sure, sure. And they slept for 12 hours. So we, we have the ability to alter that. Sure.

Conrad Meyer (35:33):
So once the, the the it gets faxed, the prescription gets faxed to Randy. Yes. That’s How long is that good for?

Dr. Rome Sherrod (35:39):
That is good for a year. From the time that

Conrad Meyer (35:41):
From the time. Okay. And I can now I can see why you want LA wallet. Yes. You know,

Dr. Rome Sherrod (35:45):
To verify. So they could have for verification,

Conrad Meyer (35:47):
For verification purposes.

Rory Bellina (35:49):
Dr. Shroud, are there any patients that this is not good for? If you could think of the patients that you’ve, that have come into you, and I’m, I’m sure you could pick up on if they’re lying to you or not, but Yes. Are is there any patients that come in you say, I don’t think this is for you. I think you need to see someone else, or I think you need to go with a different traditional medication. What does that

Dr. Rome Sherrod (36:07):
Look like? I do, I do. we have a screening that we use or what have you. one age is one of the big limitations we do have that we have patients that are younger that they, they’re by requirement. They’re, they have to see the person that’s prescribing the medication or doing the recommendation has to be a p pediatrician by training. So we do filter that. Okay. That’s one of the big ones. Number two are our pregnant patients. We’ve had patients, Hey, I’ve heard that is is natural and you know, sure everything should be fine and everything, but based on our our recommendations as physicians, it has not been cleared for you to take medical th during pregnancy. So we do screen that as well.

Randy Mire (36:47):
And for you guys to know, we do have children in the program. There’s many autistic children that benefit Amazing from this.

Conrad Meyer (36:53):
I’ve never, I’ve never, that’s something I need to have y’all all more often. I’m learning new things every two or three minutes. Yeah. I did not know that. So how does that work for autistic kids?

Rory Bellina (37:01):
How, how has that been compared to, again, I keep forgetting, you don’t only own this, you’re a pharmacist. How does that work compared to, I don’t know what children with autism take, but I assume it’s some sort of controlled pill. Mm-hmm. , how does this compare to

Randy Mire (37:13):
That? We find this calm stem down way more. Think about it. Many of the products that we use Yeah. For people to sleep better at night, an autistic child benefits amazing from,

Conrad Meyer (37:22):
That’s

Randy Mire (37:22):
Incredible. And then not to even go, we work so closely with neurologists, with people that have seizures. That’s how this whole program, that’s really why we’re here today. Right. Because of that type of benefit with seizures.

Conrad Meyer (37:32):
So you’re see, I mean I’m not no kidding aside, you’re seeing major differences in patient lives because of this.

Randy Mire (37:36):
Absolutely. From everything from anxiety, cancer patients, autistic children. Yes. Everything. So

Conrad Meyer (37:42):
Where, let me ask you this. Let’s, let’s have a, a, a 1 3 5 conversation. Where do you see this going in one year and three years and five years? Where do you see this happening? Where is this business going?

Randy Mire (37:51):
You know, I think eventually it is gonna be federal across the board. Mm-hmm. that that will be passed and that that benefits the program overall. For example, one of the biggest hindrance and things for us is credit cards. Mm-hmm. patients can’t use credit cards.

Rory Bellina (38:04):
Why is that?

Randy Mire (38:05):
Because of the federal regulations.

Conrad Meyer (38:06):
Federal, federal, federal banking regulations. Okay. So they can’t do that.

Rory Bellina (38:09):
You can use your credit card to buy something that’s illegal

Conrad Meyer (38:11):
Person. Yes.

Randy Mire (38:11):
Okay. We do take debit cards because that’s not a federal, you’re not operating with credit transaction. I got it. So you could use your debit card.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (38:19):
Another thing that we also have in the state is there are certain banks that are state owned that allow us to, I’m not gonna, you know, advertise it. Sure. But that allow you to use their banks, you know,

Rory Bellina (38:30):
Their bank credit. Yeah. Or their, their internal. Okay.

Conrad Meyer (38:33):
Yes. That’s interesting. Yeah.

Randy Mire (38:34):
Cause not all banks will take your cash. You can’t have a bank account, which just

Conrad Meyer (38:37):
Anymore. So you see this going federally, nationwide, medical marijuana, and across the states at some point. And the feds finally just capitulating and saying, you know what? We’re gonna end this.

Randy Mire (38:46):
I think it’s gonna be on different levels. I don’t think it’s gonna be full out. I do think it’s gonna be different levels. Okay. That they do it. And I think at the end of the day, they’re still gonna want the states to have some control.

Conrad Meyer (38:56):
Is Louisiana gonna continue to grow?

Rory Bellina (38:57):
Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. Do you want it to change to a open door model like you see in Colorado where I could walk in without seeing Dr. Sherod and buy whatever I want off the shelf?

Randy Mire (39:06):
You know, I think as medical professionals, we enjoy the medical benefit of the program, we can really see the full benefit with that and have relationships with the patients. Yes. I think the south is many years away from going recreational.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (39:20):
Very conservative.

Randy Mire (39:21):
And I, I think as a medical program, you have the rules, you have the structure, it gives many more people comfort.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (39:26):
Okay. Yeah. Our patients like he said, you know, the 51 year old white female Sure. That comes in warning medical gac, they want to talk to a, a physician or professional to go over the medication to make sure, you know, you go through your doctor, your pharmacist Sure. That gives them that seal of approval, what have you. And I, I think that’s, you know, that’s the climate that we’re in. Yeah. In the location. And it really, really is beneficial.

Rory Bellina (39:53):
And, and to piggyback on my question of, you know, did you want it to go recreational? Are, if you could pick, would you want the insurance companies to get involved or do you like the way it’s working right

Randy Mire (40:02):
Now? You know, insurance, as we said with PBMs, that’s another whole can of worms. Sure. And I think the reason I prefer to stay the way it is, is because at the end of the day, all that’s gonna do is cost the program more money. People think PBMs save an industry money and we have not seen that employers wind up paying so much more money when insurance is involved.

Conrad Meyer (40:23):
Oh. When PBMs become their own entity. Right. Absolutely. And they have their own interest. Right. Absolutely. We, we, again, we can have a whole discussion on

Rory Bellina (40:30):
That. And then I think it also changes the care of, you know, oh, well Conrad walked in and has United and their, they’re, you know, they’re paying a different rate or they’re not gonna pay for this one when he really needs that one. And, but the Blue Cross patient can get it. I think it,

Conrad Meyer (40:43):
But then he’s dealing with paperwork, Rory and he got claims and then recos refunds covered claims. I mean, that’s just a mess. Sure.

Randy Mire (40:50):
Absolutely.

Conrad Meyer (40:51):
I mean, if you ask any for not the Sharan, I mean, I mean the er, it’s a little different though. He’s, he’s in er, but I mean, imagine if you, if you had a, you know, you know, I mean if you’re submitting claims and the audits, no. And then they come down to surprise audits.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (41:05):
Yes. And tell you how much and Right. You’re gonna get from what they g they told we’re gonna pay you. So No,

Conrad Meyer (41:10):
I always say the insurance companies are out to not pay.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (41:14):
Oh

Conrad Meyer (41:14):
Yeah. They’ll do everything they can to not pay

Dr. Rome Sherrod (41:17):
Mitigation.

Rory Bellina (41:17):
If we have a, if we had a listener out there that’s on Capitol Hill in Baton Rouge listening right now, or when this podcast airs and you wanted to get a message to them on something that you want about this program tweaked or you like or you don’t like, is there anything you Yeah.

Conrad Meyer (41:29):
What would that be?

Randy Mire (41:30):
You know, what I always say is that patients need to realize they need to, to thank their legislators. And the reason I say that is there’s other states that just say no gets the easy way out. Yeah. This has come up and this helps so many patients. So you need to thank your legislator for stepping up and doing something out the box to help you in other states. North Carolina, South Carolina, they refuse it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. , and I think it’s gonna get passed this year. But there’s many states that take a hands off approach cuz it’s the easy way. Your government, your legislative stepped up for you. And I say thank them.

Conrad Meyer (41:59):
Is there a way to do that though? Let me ask you this, and I mean, I agree with you a hundred percent Randy, but why not publish maybe some statistics data and say, look, look how many patients we’ve helped. Look, look at this isn’t just somebody coming over here because they want to go have fun and go to sleep at night. We’ve real, you know, whatever they want to do. Right. We really clinically have made a difference Absolutely. In these patients lives. Absolut, and look how, look, look how many people we helped. So, I mean, is there a way to do that or share that? Or is that even, or is that too open? I, I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that. I’m just curious. With

Randy Mire (42:31):
Privacy and hipaa, a lot of, no,

Conrad Meyer (42:33):
No, no. Not not names. I’m talking about, you know, 35 Absolutely. 8,000 patients. We’re

Randy Mire (42:38):
Collecting that data. We do, we collect that data always. And we do. And

Conrad Meyer (42:41):
That way you go in front the committee Right, Randy and say, look, I’ve, we’ve, we’ve got X patients, here are the outcomes measurements here are, and get the doctors to come see, I can’t say the patients names, but it’s made a tremendous difference in their lives. Mm-hmm.

Randy Mire (42:52):
. And I think that’s ultimately what helped get it passed in Louisiana. Oh yeah. Those patient testimonials.

Conrad Meyer (42:56):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. What, Dr. Shard, what about you? any, if a, if a legislator was listening to this who was on the health and welfare committee right. what would, what would you say to them to help maybe tweak, alter, revise, whatever you wanna call it, the, the medical marijuana legislation in Louisiana.

Dr. Rome Sherrod (43:17):
Yes. They’re, I I would, I would be more of a compliment to everything. making it more accessible to your rural communities or what have you. There were one of the big things, I work in a lot of the smaller ERs with the staffing companies and they get the access for these patients to the dispensaries. We’re making the step in the right direction by opening up and having more dispensaries. But just having that access and being able for these patients to get

Randy Mire (43:43):
Help and I’ll chime in right there. You know, we, I feel we’ve made strides in that with not only increasing from 10 to 30 dispensaries, but also we’ve made it so that everyone needs to deliver now. So all the dispensaries have been mandated you must deliver so that you give access to the rural community. And then on top of that, recently, and I think one of the main topics for us today was to talk about the ag opinion on telemedicine. You know, Dr. Shirad runs an amazing telemedicine platform. There’s less than a 200 physicians in this state that are in the medical marijuana program. Without telemedicine, all patients would not have access. So I’m thankful that AG stepped up to give access to all patients by platforms like Dr. Sherrod, cuz he doesn’t just send the capital wellness he sends to all the dispensers

Conrad Meyer (44:30):
Across the state because

Randy Mire (44:31):
He sees patients from around the state via telemedicine. And I’ll let him chime in on that. But I think they did a good job at giving more

Rory Bellina (44:37):
Access. Yeah. Dr. Sharda, I know we, we definitely wanted to talk about that and get your both of y’all’s opinion on this. Ag opinion’s not even two weeks old. If you want to,

Dr. Rome Sherrod (44:45):
It’s so beneficial because I remember when we started out, we did have to do it in brick and mortar. And I had patients coming all the way from Alexandria. I live in Baton Rouge. They took a two hour tour, they ate while they were in town. But to have to go almost two to three hours away to get, you know, your healthcare Sure. That you need for the medical thc. I, I think that’s ridiculous. And I’m just really glad that they stepped up Sure. And, you know, defended the telemedicine because it allows us to get that access that I’ve been speaking of, you know, to these people. So

Rory Bellina (45:18):
This will allow you to do telemedicine and make recommendations throughout the state of Louisiana mm-hmm. via telemedicine. Yes. And Randy, how does this, does this allow you and I,

Conrad Meyer (45:27):
Well, I think about first let’s just, I think first tell the listen is what is the opinion? Cause we, we haven’t, we haven’t hit that yet.

Rory Bellina (45:33):
We’ve talked about it. Either y’all want to discuss it or give your,

Randy Mire (45:36):
Or you’re the attorney bud.

Conrad Meyer (45:37):
Let’s let you . Yeah. I think they’re looking at you

Rory Bellina (45:40):
To summarize the attorney the opinion, which it wasn’t super long. It was only seven pages. But you know, you’ve heard us say throughout today’s episode, recommend, recommend, recommend. Typically when you see a doctor, they prescribe something. Mm-hmm. , Louisiana, there’s been a distinction made that doctors can recommend therapeutic marijuana. And so what, what this attorney general opinion about is about is that there is another statute in Louisiana that says that if you are going to prescribe schedule one or schedule two, and I don’t know about three, but no one and two, at least if you’re gonna prescribe one and two,

Conrad Meyer (46:15):
You need an in-person visit,

Rory Bellina (46:16):
You need an in-person. Now you can do renewals, I believe through telemedicine

Conrad Meyer (46:19):
After the in-person visit. That’s after the treatment plan is

Rory Bellina (46:22):
Set. So this question was how does therapeutic marijuana fall into that little bubble? And the Attorney General basically made a, a distinction and said, doctors aren’t prescribing here. They’re recommending. And they kind of hedged themselves and said, Hey, if you, the board of Medical examiners or legislative, if you wanna clean it up, you need to go clean up your language. But this is a recommendation. It’s not a prescription. So tell me what your thoughts

Randy Mire (46:46):
On this and, and I will tell you, that was the legislative intent. Last session, when we got this approved, the legislators came together and said they wanted to give access to patients because there was less than 200 physicians that could treat marijuana patients. They wanted to give access. So the attorney General basically backed up the legislative intent, which was to let telemedicine doctors see patients for what telemedicine was meant for. And the patient do not need to be in person. They do not need to come see, because it’s a recommendation and does not follow prescription rules.

Rory Bellina (47:16):
Randy, are you allowed to ship inside of Louisiana to a patient that gets a recommendation?

Conrad Meyer (47:21):
That’s a good question. I

Randy Mire (47:22):
Don’t know that. So we can deliver to them. Okay. We have to use our own courier service. I got it. You don’t want to use a mailing service because then you’re back in the federal window again. I see.

Rory Bellina (47:31):
Ah, okay.

Randy Mire (47:32):
But we’ll bring it to their door. I see. We get them to sign off and verifi verify license and everything. Okay. We don’t leave it on their doorstep for just anyone to get. Right. Right. We must see them. We verify license. We scan their license. Oh, wow. And they sign it and they take it, and they can designate two caregivers to do that for them. Okay. Mm-hmm. . But we do bring it to their door. And I will tell you, I think patients are gonna see that a lot more coming soon.

Rory Bellina (47:55):
Well, like Dr. Sherod said, the the Alexandria patient that might not have a pharmacy near them, they could reach out to one of these satellites, meet with Dr. Sherod via telemedicine, get the recommendation, and then have it brought to them how you just described. Yes,

Conrad Meyer (48:09):
Sir. Yes, sir. Well, that, that, that provides chain of custody. Yeah. So that’s, that’s important. So that’s good. Well, this is all, this is all good. All around. Cause when I saw this opinion, that’s what spurred the comment. Yeah. Let’s get Randy on. Absolutely. And, and, and, and get Dr. Sherod in here because this is really, yeah. it’s, it’s cutting edge. I mean, like, I’m watching Louisiana medical marijuana law evolve Sure. To benefit the

Randy Mire (48:31):
Citizens. And Conrad, I’ll say that. It’s amazing. Louisiana really has set the standard. That’s good. I get calls every day from Mississippi, from Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas. I’m working in all those states. Right. Because I’m so passionate about medical marijuana and we did it. Right. So to carry that message to other states, it’s amazing. Yeah. I’m super proud of that.

Conrad Meyer (48:52):
It sounds like both of y’all have carried the torch. Yes, indeed. You, you both saw a need. You, you saw it from the clinical perspective, you saw it from the pharmacy perspective, and you, you came through Yes.

Randy Mire (49:02):
Yes, sir. To

Conrad Meyer (49:03):
Be the first one.

Randy Mire (49:03):
We love it, man. I’m so

Conrad Meyer (49:04):
Proud of it. I’m proud of you too. That’s great.

Randy Mire (49:06):
Well, when you come to Capital Wellness and you sit in my lobby and you hear these patients how thankful they are for this program, being in Louisiana, it’s an amazing thing. Yes.

Rory Bellina (49:15):
Well, Dr. Sherrod, please tell our listeners how they could find you as well as, and, and Randy, I’d like you to do the same, because I’m sure we’re gonna have follow up questions that maybe we can’t answer or Yes. Or they’ll want to contact you to see if they’re eligible for this. So

Dr. Rome Sherrod (49:26):
Yes. again, I’m Dr. Rome Sherrod and I’m with Transformative Health Centers. And you can just Google it and it will pull up our website.

Conrad Meyer (49:36):
Fantastic. Randy, how about yourself? Capital

Randy Mire (49:38):
Wellness, same thing. Yep. Capital Wellness. I’m Randy Mire. You. If you Google Capital Wellness, you’ll see Baton Rouge dispensary. If you go to our website, we have tons of information, not only with our online menu for products that we have, but you could scroll down, you can see the physicians that are on there. Dr. Sherrod is listed first with Transformative Healthcare. you’ll see all the physicians. So it’s, I I encourage everyone, if you want a better treatment, if you’re taught of your traditional pharmaceutical meds, reach out, ask questions.

Conrad Meyer (50:06):
That’s great. Well, gentlemen, thank you very much for coming on the show. We really enjoyed having you. I’m glad to be here. And, and Roy, I gotta tell you, I mean, how much stuff did you learn today?

Rory Bellina (50:15):
This has been,

Conrad Meyer (50:16):
I mean, like, really

Rory Bellina (50:17):
Most typically when we do these podcasts, Conrad, and I know 90% of the content. This one I did not know. I I learned a lot.

Conrad Meyer (50:24):
I learned a lot too. And gentlemen, so we, we love to have you, you back. Yeah. I mean, I’d love to, you know, if something, lemme just say this. If something happens, this legislative session and you know, something changes or for the good or whatever we’d love to have you back, you know, at the end of the summertime to do a follow up and, and, and come see the evolution, the continued evolution of Louisiana medical marijuana law. Yes, indeed. That’s great. Well, gentlemen, thank you very much everybody. Thank you very much for listening to another episode of Chehardy Sherman Williams Health Law talk. Until next time, everyone be safe and enjoy.

Intro (50:55):
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