Steve Robinson, MD, audited a presentation by Beverly Mikuriya, MD, to the Rosmoor Medical Marijuana Education & Support Club in Walnut Creek on November 10. The club’s education coordinator, Anita Mataroso, brings in speakers to update the membership on the state of the movement. Dr. Mikuriya had just been to the IACM meeting in Italy, and her talk included news of cutting-edge research as well as movement history.
More than 60 Rosmoor club members attended the talk. Robinson was struck by “how frequently she made reference to her brother Tod.” It dawned on me that Robinson, who joined the Society of Cannabis Clinicians a few years ago and is now a member of its board of directors, hadn’t seen Lincoln Godfrey’s documentary, “Dr. Tod,” or read O’Shaughnessy’s THM special issue. Which suggests that most doctors who have joined the SCC in recent years are not familiar with its history and its founder’s leadership role in the movement.I don’t know why I assumed otherwise. Wishful thinking, obviously.
Of course “movement” doesn’t just refer to the political fight for legalization. There are movements in medicine and science. SCCers who haven’t seen Dr. Tod are urged to check it out. It’s informative and moving. Also, spend some time browsing the O’Shaughnessy’s Reader, a unique treasure trove of movement history.—FG
Note to Dr. Robinson 11/14
Terrible news: I’ve given away my last spare copy of the THM special issue.
I’ll make the links live ASAP in The O’Shaughnessy’s Reader.
Our conversation was a revelation. I don’t know why I assumed everyone who joined the SCC in recent years knew the rudiments of its history, and the role Tod played, and the contributions he made to the field. I don’t think his papers on cannabis as a treatment for alcohol and ptsd can be surpassed (although more will be revealed about mechanism of action, of course).
If Tod and Dennis Peron hadn’t insisted that Prop 215 apply to every condition for which marijuana provides relief, I’m not sure if and when it would have been legalized for anything but AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and seizure disorders, in California and beyond.
Here’s Mike Aldrich’s piece about Tod that really says it all: A Doctor Who Believed His Patients.
And here’s a song in Tod’s honor (and yours, and every cannabis clinician’s) using Mike’s line.
PS to readers: If anybody has copies of the 2008 O’Shaughnessy’s honoring Tod Mikuriya, MD, please contact editor@os-extra.cannabisclinicians.org. Name your price. —FG
