A Hollywood physician has lost his medical licence after recommending a father give his four-year-old son marijuana cookies to control temper tantrums, according to California's medical board.
Dr William Eidelman, 69, a natural medicine physician, improperly diagnosed the boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder before recommending marijuana as the treatment, the medical board said in a decision announced last month.
Eidelman's licence was revoked as of January 4 but he maintains it's active and he continues to practise.
The penalties against Eidelman stem from his treatment of a boy who was misbehaving in school and brought to the doctor's office by his father in September 2012, according to the medical board report.
Much of Eidelman's practice centres on writing letters for patients to obtain medical marijuana, which he said he began doing in 1997, shortly after the state first legalised the drug for medical use.
After a 30-minute visit with the boy and his father, the doctor wrote in his chart that the child had a "probable combination of ADD/ADHD and bipolar disorder" and should "try cannabis in small amounts in cookies".
The doctor had previously recommended cannabis for the father's ADHD and bipolar disorder, according to the board report.
The board found Eidelman "grossly negligent" for determining the boy's diagnosis without consulting a psychiatrist, collecting information from the boy's teachers or asking his father about the child's moods and sleep patterns.
The board did not fault Eidelman for recommending marijuana to a child, saying there is not enough scientific evidence to disprove that cannabis could have benefits for children.
However, the board still views the recommendation for cannabis as improper because the boy did not actually have the conditions Eidelman diagnosed him with and for which he prescribed the cannabis.
