Documents Show Abortionist Wrote Marijuana Certifications in Heber Springs

Abortion, Marijuana,

A Little Rock abortionist has been working at a medical marijuana clinic in Heber Springs, according to documents Family Council obtained last week via the Freedom of Information Act.

Dr. Thomas Tvedten is the owner of Little Rock Family Planning Services, Arkansas’ only surgical abortion facility.

Documents obtained from the State Medical Board via the Freedom of Information Act indicate that besides operating an abortion facility in Little Rock, Dr. Tvedten began certifying patients to use medical marijuana at Heber Springs Cannabis Clinic in September of 2019.

According to the documents, in February of 2020 Dr. Tvedten certified a 12-year-old girl to use medical marijuana. A complaint filed against Dr. Tvedten indicates that the girl was receiving treatment from child and adolescent psychiatrists Dr. Scott Hogan and Dr. Lynn Thomas in central Arkansas.

When the girl’s psychiatrists learned Dr. Tvedten had certified their patient to use marijuana, they filed a complaint with the Arkansas State Medical Board.

The Arkansas State Medical Board asked Dr. Kristi Kindrick, a board certified psychiatrist, to review the case. Dr. Kindrick prepared an Expert Reviewer’s Report outlining her findings. The report indicates Dr. Tvedten diagnosed the child using a screening tool for post-traumatic stress disorder, which the report says is not a substitution for a psychiatric evaluation. The report also notes that marijuana exposure puts children with severe mental illness at significant risk of worsening symptoms.

The report concludes that “Dr. Tvedten has acted in a grossly negligent manner” in diagnosing the child and certifying her to use medical marijuana.

The Arkansas State Medical Board suspended Dr. Tvedten’s medical license in August pending a disciplinary hearing before the board.

On October 1, the board opted to reinstate Dr. Tvedten’s license, but barred him from certifying anyone to use medical marijuana until the board holds a disciplinary hearing in December.

Obviously, this situation highlights a number of issues with Arkansas’ medical marijuana laws.

For example, Arkansas’ medical marijuana amendment lets physicians with no experience diagnosing mental illness certify people to use marijuana for mental illnesses like PTSD, Alzheimer’s, and Tourette’s syndrome.

Family Council will continue to monitor and report on this situation.

You can read the documents Family Council obtained via the Freedom of Information Act here and here.

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Medical Journal Article Highlights Problems With CBD Products

Marijuana

Proponents of so-called “medical marijuana” have argued that cannabidiol (CBD) oil can treat a host of medical conditions, but new research is casting doubt on those claims.

Writing in the September/October issue of Missouri Medicine — the journal of the Missouri State Medical Association — David Evans notes, that “clinical data does not support some claimed uses of CBD for Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, cancer palliation and treatment, chronic pain and spasticity, depression, anxiety disorder, insomnia, and inflammation.”

The article also points out that multiple studies have found CBD products often are mislabeled or contain contaminants, and that a recent federal lawsuit in Florida argued that laboratory testing revealed CBD products contained “potentially harmful levels of lead, copper, nickel, mold, and yeast.”

We have written time and again about the problems associated with marijuana and marijuana-related products like CBD oils.

A study published last year found that marijuana legalization has been linked to psychosis, suicide, and other substance abuse.

A 2019 study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions found that marijuana addiction among young people is tied to increased risk of heart problems.

A second study found regular marijuana use increases a young person’s risk of suffering a stroke.

Marijuana use is tied to stroke as well as permanent loss in IQ and an increased risk for schizophrenia.

That’s part of the reason why the U.S. Surgeon General has issued warnings about marijuana.

And a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s publication JAMA Psychiatry found exposure to marijuana during pregnancy was associated with psychotic behaviors, weaker cognitive abilities, and other problems in children.

All of this underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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