CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta is just too damn perfect. He is a doctor (including combat neurosurgery), a journalist, a University of Michigan grad, has a perfect smile, and speaks out against drug use. I really believe that the Universe has a way of balancing out the existence of such people with Doppelgängers, “anti” people, who use their skills to aid the dark side. The story about Sona “Doc 420” Patel, posted on our News Tab, makes me wonder if we have finally found the anti-Sanjay Gupta of the Indian American community.
Chances are you’ve never met a doctor like Sona Patel. She’s the cover girl for medical marijuana. We first interviewed her at a medical marijuana convention in Los Angeles.
“I’ve always believed in the medicinal effects of marijuana,” says Patel, a medical marijuana doctor.
Six months ago, she started calling herself Doc 420 — 420 is the street slang for smoking marijuana.
“That’s just kind of a bit of a fluke, just kind of happened that that phone number was available and the Web site was available. So, I became Doc 420,” says Patel.
Yes, she has a toll-free number, a Doc 420 Web site and a MySpace page with a picture.
Dan Noyes: “What did you hope to accomplish with this image?”
Sona Patel: “Well, you know what, it was just something that a marketing team had come up with for me…” [Link]
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The article excerpted above is actually the transcript from a television story (including undercover camera work), the video of which is posted on the site.
First, I should say that a part of me admires the hot Doc420. She is using existing loopholes in the California medical marijuana laws to maximize her profit. She definitely is not the only such “rogue” doctor. According to the ad above she already has three clinics in three cities and she is only 31! Her website shows that the clinics are very nice as well. Incidentally, her website has a note saying it is down for construction but will be re-opening today, presumably sans racy “Doc420” ads. Thank goodness for screen capture. She must be feeling a little bit paranoid because of the undercover story, and probably with good reason. Even though California state laws allow for the distribution of weed for “medicinal reasons,” the feds do not, and will go after people that exploit the laws by freely writing prescriptions without good cause. For those wanting a clearer background on all this, 60 minutes devoted a great story to this problem just a few weeks ago. The problem for Sona is that she is caught on tape implying that just about any reason is good enough to be prescribed some marijuana by her.
The other issue here is her ad which “drips” with sex. In the under cover video when some potential clients approach her she acts very demurely, so I can give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that she isn’t using her sexuality on a daily basis. Even if it was a marketing team’s idea to dress her up like that, it was a bad call. No doctor should be that stupid. Citing an ad like this as evidence will undoubtedly bolster a prospective federal lawsuit against her.
I-Team Producer #1: “What if you don’t have a condition?”
Doc 420: “Well, most likely, people are using it for something whether you… really realize it or not, if it’s helping you sleep or calming your stress or there are so many different reasons that still qualify you. You may not even realize it.”
I-Team Producer #2: “It could be something like just I can’t sleep or whatever?”
Doc 420: “Yeah, exactly, and I have a lot of people like that, too.”
Our producers went to the ATM, returned with cash, and after a few minutes emerged with a three-month recommendation for medical marijuana.
Dan Noyes: “Oh, you’ve been diagnosed with a serious medical condition.”
But Dr. Patel didn’t really diagnose our producer. She told him what would qualify him for medical marijuana with a series of leading questions. [Link]
Marijuana might eventually become legalized, even at the federal level. Sona’s problem is that the law just isn’t there yet. The extreme marketing decisions she’s made in order to maximize her profit (i.e., conflating her physical appearance with her competency to prescribe a controlled substance) may come back to haunt her. We’ll keep an eye on her story.
she makes me want to vomit… or wait, will that be good enough to get me some mary jane?
oh dear abhi, you’d be surprised what idiots are in the system.
she’s going to get reprimanded by the california medical licensing board, i can bet 100 cans of beans on that one…
i guess the next call to her will be from hugh hefner… another career…another opportunity…she can rake it in using her um..rack?
Yes, watching the ‘expose’ was like the exact reverse experience of going to the theater and watching Harold & Kumar. The local laws are already incredibly permissive, it boggles the mind that a doctor who does specialize in providing this service (and there are way, way more than her doing so) feels the need to resort to lad-mag promotional material like the sassy pose she strikes in the screen grab.
She is not the only desi listed as a cannabis specialist, there is also a Dr. Rita Thakur (who does not seem to need the ‘hot doc 420’ advertising)
I think she’s cool.
please explain. I thought the ad to be merely a crass presentation of natural assets, predicated on the underlying assumption that physical appearance has anything to do with competency as a medical professional. It’s much the like the happy attractive people frolicking through various outdoor locations in commercials for herpes medication.
420 works out as a double pun.
pardon my intrusion, does the posting of the above story mean that sepia is going to ignore the most important story of the day, which is not only south asian in its affect, but global. i am alluding to the declaration of martial law in pakistan.
Maybe that’s what it means. And if you don’t like it you can shove it. We write about what we want to write about and when we want to write about it. If you put money in my pocket then I will re-consider this. Got it?
damn Abhi! Stress isn’t good for you man… maybe you should go see the doc and get something to help mellow you out 🙂
I was actually thinking she’d make this poor blogger a great sugar momma.
we shouldn’t need a prescription for mary jane anyways. legalize it.
I for one think that marijuana has legitamate medical uses (my friend’s Dad uses it–illegally–to help pain from his worsening MS–and he’s doctor!) but this desi doc is nuts. How stupid can you be? I mean really…she even seems ilike she’s high in the interview….stupid stupid
On last report, BB fled and is returning now. If you want to see streaming news, open this in Windows Media Player
mms://a150.l2584248272.c25842.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/150/25842/v0001/reflector:48272
Anyways, interesting post. If only Mary Jane became legal…
I’m outraged! How dare that not her in the ad.
hmmm. between harold & kumar, anna nicole smith’s doc, and this chick…i see an emergence of a new stereotype
it is her in the ad.
Here’s another Desi certified doctor in Jersey who uses himself as example to sell whatever weight loss program he’s advocating. Oh yeah, btw, in addition to being a family doctor he’s a comedian too.
Yo Nina, I heard that.
Damme! I’d happily get on the ganja hubbly-bubbly style with Dr. Patel. Sign me up.
merely a crass presentation of natural assets, predicated on the underlying assumption
Indeed
oh. so, what’s the problem again?
I support her cause, though not her modus operandi. Surely a little tact might go a long way. Certainly wouldn’t hurt.
In either case, it is good see “our” people assimilating to such a degree as to shamelessly stripping themselves of the stereotypical norms.
I think Sepia Mutiny, or at least the story poster, has gotten a little too stiff as of late. Theres been shyster desi doctors selling whack meds for years – – – I know plenty of folks in Atlanta back when Phen-Fen and those other heart attack inducing weight loss pills were still legal – – who were selling ‘prescriptions’ to anyone who would pay them at their clinics. That was/is wrong, and downright greedy. I think with Doc 420, she might be ahead of her time. Marijuana has a artificial stigma and like someone mentioned above, it’ll probably be legal at some point in the future. Whats the difference between Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper having their photos plastered all over busses, billboards, websites and coffee mugs to sell their stories and Doc 420 showing a little leg? Both are selling sex in some form, and both are involved in shady bending of the medical profession for self interest and proft.
I say go’head Doc 420!
Wait this is real? Thought I was reading the Onion.
Airbrushed much?
Anyhow I’m not anti-marijuana, but this and medicine do not mix. I don’t deny its pain alleviating effects, but it is just baby steps away from integrating naturopathic remedies into allopathic medicine. Which is just quackery at its greatest form. This lady is never going to be taken seriously as a physician because of her irresponsible diagnoses and playmate-esque ads.
Guess there are far too many Indians in medicine for these types to go unnoticed.
another sellout like bobby jindal. if she were true to her indian roots, she’d be pushing bhang instead.
I’d hit it.
Then spark up right after.
Before dude. Try before. Trust me.
I am a libertarian. I believe drugs should be legal, especially pot. But guess what, I don’t even smoke or drink(sometimes I will taste something for the hell of it). I would rather go out with a lady who takes pot recreationally than a smoker. I have not seen a pothead beat his wife, but i have seen alchoholics do so.(not that there aren’t potheads who wouldn’t, but you get the idea of the relative numbers). Government can’t control what a woman can do with her body with respect to abortion. So why should they control what people put into their own bodies like pot? Pot is not a public nuisance. Every argument people tend to bring aobut the reason for making pot illegal, I can use the same rationale for alocholic drinks. And as far as the addictive quality, I know poeple who were able to quit pot much easier than cigarettes.
At the same time, I am not fond of the culture glorifying pot as those taken by the progressive minded or the people who want to have fun(I tend to hang around such people, but I just grin since it is of no big consequence in my life, either way).
Few other points 1) The chick is hot. 2) She may have ulterior motives. But I like her chuzpah. 3) For my money, she is morally preferable to the plastic surgeons who do not dissuade their patients from getting totally unncessary breast implants, especially to teenagers. And definitely better than those plastic surgeons who actually suggest breast implants when a patient comes in for some other condition and may ask casually about implants. I feel women butchering their bodies for implants is a bigger deal than some harmless toking.
I had a long conversation w/ my roommate about whether ‘Doc 420’ cheapens the medical profession by dressing provocatively in her own ad. All doctors believe in a bottom line anyways, she just represents an extreme example. I wouldn’t want my own sister doing something like this, but, in a free market, is it really so wrong to wear booty shorts and take advantage of a legal loophole?
She is probably not half as bad as some pyschiatrists I know who milk the system to get rich.
The strength of modern, laboratory produced cannabis, which is genetically modified, commonly known as ‘skunk’, can lead to psychosis and other mental health problems. People shouldn’t downplay the potential health issues of smoking weed.
Well then i guess I should be suing the state of British Columbia as well as the backwoods growers of Kentucky and Virginia as well. I’m quite mad, you see, so much so that this very morning I put on my pants on, one leg at a time.
Nicky,
the point of standardizing potency is so that prospective patients know exactly how much will achieve the desired effect and the point of raising potency is to minimize the amount of smoke (still the most popular method of ingestion)entering the patent’s lungs. The only people I’ve ever heard connected with cannabis psychosis are the odd aspiring rapper on a council estate in the UK–one of the few places where anti-cannabis raps are still found with some regularity.
We have alchocholic content regulations on beer. I can’t see why content labeling can’t be done for pot. The thing is people are allowed to do many dangerous things in society. Driving while drunk is illegal. But drinking yourself silly is not. Drunken husbands being abusive to wives is a lot more common than some deranged pothead.
That’s not a reason for not being cautious about cannabis use. Prolonged use of modern strains of skunk are contributing to mental health and other health issues. There’s almost a taboo about discussing this, because you’re seen as being square and not cool, everyone wants to be like the big Lebowski or Harold and Kumar. But it’s a fact. And the potency of lab weed contributes to this.
Be careful of bhang. I was hearing that many people have hallucinations after taking it and could not understand how this could be the case if it were just marijuana/hash. Turns out some of the preparations also include shrooms (e.g. datura). Don’t take unless you know the provenance and you have a level headed trip master. Otherwise you might try to pet a lorry and cause your parents much grief and embarassment
Oh yeah, not just mental health problems, psychosis and so on, but respiratory and lung and cancer issues. People should be less blase about weed and the ill things it can cause.
i agree with nicky. pot is powerful. makes you stupid. i still have no idea what crocodile dundee was about.
it’s neither ‘unhip’ or boldly contrarian to assert that a product made and consumed almost exclusively by club members in CA has any sort of effect on the total cannabis-consuming population. I’d also like to see the study you’re citing to come up with this ‘cannabis psychosis’ fact.
I am unsure of her intentions, but if she really wants to help people and alleviate pain for those who are suffering, there must be more options out than medical marijuana for that purpose.
One hit off a bong is the equivalent of smoking over a hundred cigarettes.
I went to uni in BC, and I was in Liberal Arts, so everyone was alluz stokin’ bout’ tokin’, and lemme tell you, I have seen people enter the mental health system because of too much weed. One of my guy friends was on a camping trip with a group of us way out in the rainforests. So we’re all in the bush and its night and one of the other guys had my friend toke up because my friend acts so funny on dope. My friend, a reasonable, fairly centred electrical engineering student, took off while I was washing dishes, leave no trace style, and left me in the pitch dark without a light. I could hear him going crashing through the brush. Where did he go? He had briefly asked me if I had heard a bear, but this was a bizarre way to be acting if there were wild animals in the vicinity. Eventually the drug pusher happened upon me with another light, and I told me what had happened. So he traipsed off to investigate. When he came back, he was laughing himself sick. My friend was in his tent, with the tent flap pulled tight and the zipper drawn to the rim, cowering in a corner with his sleeping bag over his head. Drug pusher asked him: what’s the story? My friend’s response: I can’t come out.. there are BEARS out there! Drug pusher thought the funniest part of the whole fandago was the fact that my friend completely abandoned me to stand ALONE in the woods regardless of the fact that he felt the marauding death beasts of BC were making a deadly orbit around our area.
Dude, when something gets you that wacked it ain’t good stuff. This chica don’t touch Miss Mary Weird, and that’s one of many reasons why.
That’s nothing to fear. In more enlightened cultures they would make your friend a shaman and give him the best yurt in town.
so because some individuals (usually of low bodymass) feel tipsy after a shot or two of 80-proof liquor, we should ban Jose Cuervo?
Pleeease, stop the reefer madness shit. I know quite a few people who took pot. Stating the worse examples is not how you frame public policy. We all know about so many alcoholics who ruined not only their lives but other peoples lives because of their LEGAL abuse of alcohol. Should we ban alcoholic drinks because some people can’t handle it? And if there are some dangerous strains out there, that is what happens when you make everything illegal. How about making it legal so you can weed out, pun intended, the more dangerous varieties for mainstream consumption.
When alcoholic prohibition went on in the US and Andhra Pradesh, there were some pretty harmful alcoholic concoctions made available for people who wanted to drink because of the unreglated illegal nature of the market. ”
I dont think pot is cool. I think it is stupid to take any drug. But then I think it is stupid to get drunk. BUt I do not want to force my opinion on other people. I see no evidence that pot is a PUBLIC nuisance any more than drinking.
Making pot legal has many advantages 1) Takes the government out of one facet of our lives. What we do with our bodies with natural substances. People can find a way to get high some way if they really want to. 2) More tax revenue. Imagine the tourism revenue also. 3) You can concentrate more on going after more dangerous drugs. Every second the government wastes on pot enforcement is a second away from a more focused drug policy. 4) You can use the tax revenue to fund rehab centers. Making it legal, drives the prices down, and reduces theft.
I actually sometimes feel like we should legalize every drug, drive the prices down removingt the crime element of drugs, and then let losers OD themselves to death if they do not want to go to a rehab system funded by drug taxes. But I waver on that. However, Pot should be legal not because it is good for you, but people have a right to do whatever they want to enjoy themselves as long as it does not affect the community. Pot does not affect me.
So what if she is using her legs in her ad. It is her prerogative, and really just a product of our image obsessed environment anyway. She also seems to be doing very well as a result (3 clinics at age 31?). As far as her selling “weed”, if there wasn’t a market, she wouldn’t have customers. The i-team “bust” is hardly legitimate. It is just the media, once again sensationalizing facts. Why don’t we save our judgment for when she has truly broken the law or hurt someone.
its a slippery slope
I love the part where they ask her if handing someone a piece of paper with side effects was the same as discussing the side effects with them and she had this look on her face like
“how the fu@# am I going to splain this one?”
my tweed blazer still smells of skunk from the police concert last night. a 50 yr old lady made me dance with her. damn hippies.
just curious. i know that in some countries, the medical council has a say in how doctors can advertise themselves and sets guidelines. i guess this is not true of the u.s.?
You should have sang to her: Don’t stand so Don’t stand so Close to me
of course, yes. haven’t you been listening to lou dobbs? damn mexicans are taking away the jobs that good americans like jack daniels could do.
and let’s not forget the jobs that those darn mexicans are taking away from the Japanese–four years ago i was downing sake bombs, and now I find myself assailed by tequila bombs wherever I drink.