I'm a caregiver for a roommate with schizoaffective disorder who has three previous medical marijuana recommendations for his condition over the years, from three different doctors. He feels cannabis eases the anxiety, agitation, and other symptoms he experiences as part of his illness. I can see that he's much calmer, more logical and focused when he has it. I've noticed that the only times he's needed hospitalization were times in which he didn't have access to medical marijuana for extended periods of time. We have up-to-date copies of his medical records verifying his condition and treatment history. So when I made an appointment for him with ACC in Palm Springs and they assured me that they provide recommendations to patients with this illness, I wasn't expecting any problems.
However, when we saw the physician, he said that he would need a written message from my roommate's current psychiatrist stating that he was "okay" with his use of medical marijuana before he could write the recommendation. I didn't quite grasp the logic of this: if my roommate's psychiatrist were willing to write a letter approving of (or "okaying") his use of medical mj, why would we need to go to a medical marijuana clinic to begin with? I tried to explain that no county mental health employee will okay a patient's use of medical mj, but the doctor wouldn't budge, even after I offered to provide him with three previous doctor recommendations we had with us. He claimed my observations as his caregiver for six and a half years were merely "anecdotal" and only a professional's opinion held any value. I gathered that this doctor felt that he was unqualified to evaluate my friend on his own.
If it's not their policy to write recommendations for patients with schizoaffective disorder, then so be it, but they shouldn't tell us ahead of time that they do those recommendations! The only bright spot in the visit was that the receptionist was pleasant and they refunded the $100 we'd paid at the front desk.