1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Bad Medicine" by Joel Warner.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
March 11, 2010
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
"Bad Medicine" captures the dark side of Colorado's booming medical marijuana industry, exposing how CannaMed, the state's largest marijuana doctor's clinic and other medical services helping patients obtain marijuana IDs had been "selling" patients to dispensaries, taking advantage of loopholes in state law regarding medical evaluations and marijuana. Among other findings, the story also revealed that CannaMed was churning out new marijuana patients at a rate of 70 to 120 a day, that the company was allegedly using a physician's assistant to write medical marijuana recommendations and was selling temporary marijuana licenses that weren't valid.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Warner obtained extensive internal documentation about CannaMed's practices from former employees and other sources. Public record act requests were not used.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Warner tracked down and interviewed many current and former employees at CannaMed, as well as officials and regulators involved in the issue. He also posed as a dispensary owner to track down other medical marijuana clinics that were selling patients. Finally, he confronted the owners of CannaMed and other marijuana doctor's clinics regarding his findings.
6. Results (if any).
In the months following the story, legislators passed new statewide rules cracking down on doctors recommending marijuana, rules that appeared to outlaw some of the practices detailed in the story. Also, one of the most prominent doctors working for CannaMed has since left the operation.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy?
The owner of CannaMed threatened to stop advertising in Westword, and questioned the accuracy of the story, in particular quotes Warner used from him. However, when he was told that Warner had recordings of the conversations in question, the owner did not press the point.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Don't go for the easy headlines. When most media outlets were still reporting on the pros and cons of the medical marijuana debate, Westword decided to look at the business dealings of the operations that were springing up to take advantage of the state's medical marijuana deluge and quickly found a much more promising story. The fact that the operations happened to be big advertisers in Westword did not make a difference. Also, don't wait until the last minute to confront the subject of your investigation with your findings. By including extensive interviews with CannaMed's colorful and controversial owner, Warner was able to add a compelling human element to the story.