(CMR) Police raided the pharmacy at Doctor's Express yesterday evening around 7:00 pm and confiscated all vaping products from the facility located on Godfrey Nixon Way.
Exclusive CMR sources have indicated that the police raided the facility over several hours into the evening. Drug dogs were taken to the facility and they will be receiving a $5,000 fine per infraction.
We understand that when the THC vapes, which are not legal in the Cayman Islands, were imported and existing clients contacted about migrating over from the CBC oil to the THC vapes.
CBD oil was approved for medical use in the Cayman Islands in 2016.
Meanwhile, other sources that Doctor's Express, which is actually own and operated by a local attorney-at-law, will be making moves to sue the Cayman Islands Government for it's recent decision to issues a cease and desist order.
We understand that a meeting was called by Carlene Vassell-Webb, the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) at the Department of Health Regulatory Service Conference Room for 9:00 am Friday morning.
Whilst no other government or commission members were included in the email CMR queried the purpose of the meeting and why Dr. Michelle Mondesir, Chair of Health Practice Commission, would not have been included in a meeting request.
CMR's sources indicate that no private meeting should be called with anyone at the MDC without the Chairperson of the Health Practice Commission being present.
Other concerns have been raised regarding the pricing regime and issuance of CBD ID cards. According to sources, the price tag for cartridges for vapes increased significantly; sometimes threefold when insurance coverage was available for patients.
$300 coverages a 7-day treatment course for vapes cartridges. Patients can obtain an ID card as part of the consultation fee that can then be used should they be arrested with THC in their system. The card is issued for an initial one month period and then renewable every three months.
A cardholder reached out to CMR several months questioning if anyone was regulating that practice as they found it extremely easy to obtain. They shared:
“ID cards were issued to people not even going in for vapes or cannabis. It was just part of the consultation. Then to get the insurance company to pay for it they say that all sorts of other treatment options had been exhausted which I know in my case was not the case at all. I've had other friends going there to get this card – it's a bid of a fad for my pot-smoking friends to now be legit by getting the card.”
Despite these allegations, Doctor's Express has indicated the correct procedure is that the customer obtains a prescription for the CBD oil and is then issued the ID card. However, they do not stock CBD oil and so there is no confirmation that a patient even had the prescription filled at a dispensary that is licensed to dispense it.
Doctor's Express only stocked the vapes. Anyone who had received a prescription for CBD oil apparently became a potential client for the THC vapes and were contacted.
There is no indication of how many clients would have already purchased THC vapes before the confiscation yesterday and if the police would have been able to obtain any sales records.
Despite Saturday's order Doctor's Express had not updated their social media accounts as of Tuesday afternoon – still advertising the products for sale. Today all such posts have been removed.
Their public cry for members of the public to protest the decision has also been removed.
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