From political persecution to medical acceptance

Kevin Kafka is the founder and CEO of Canna Care Docs, which operates in more than a dozen locations in Mass, and provides recommendations to patients for medical marijuana. Canna Care, which also offers recs in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, is often lauded for its veterans appreciation events, where vets are offered free evaluations. Nevertheless, the company faced turbulent times last year, as it was viciously and quite unfairly smeared in several Boston media outlets.

The negative characterizations came as part of a campaign led by Governor Charlie Baker to prevent the passage of legal cannabis. In the heat of things, the Commonwealth’s Board of Registration in Medicine (BORIM) suspended the medical license of head Canna Care physician Dr. John Nadolny. Nadolny was later exonerated by a judge who ruled that he should have never been suspended, but even after that the BORIM took several months to reinstate his credentials.

Kafka, a cannabis consultant and former commodity broker at the Chicago Board of Trade, is a resident of Colorado, but was recently in town for a visit. During that time I had a chance to interview him live on my WEMF show, The Young Jurks, which is partially sponsored by Canna Care Docs. What follows are some choice quotes from our conversation.

On the Board of Registration in Medicine taking so long to reinstate the license of Dr. John Nadolny …

KK: [I was] quite surprised. We thought after the appeal was won, John would immediately be reinstated and it dragged on for about another six months—six months of torture for Canna Care and more importantly [for] John’s family.

On the fear of Canna Care Docs getting shut down in Mass …  

We stood up to [the] pressure, but our entire team—over 100 team members—felt it. A lot of gray hairs … We didn’t know if we were going to make it. Quite frankly it was a blow we didn’t know if we would recover from. This time last year was hands down the most difficult time Canna Care has ever seen, and [that] John Nadolny has ever seen, and Nadolny outside of cannabis has been practicing medicine [as an ER doctor] in the Commonwealth for over 30 years with an unblemished record until this. A political persecution.

On Canna Care Doctors donating nearly half-a-million dollars of free medical recommendations to veterans and other patients in financial straits …

One of our core principles at Canna Care Docs is to ensure that no patient should stay in the black market for just financial reasons, and that principle has served us and [the patient] population very well.

I’d also like to call out Massachusetts dispensaries. It’s time for them to step up to start servicing our patients as well … we’re out here alone in the woods [offering] discounts to veterans … We have to figure out a way to cover the costs for veterans. (Note: Sage Naturals in Cambridge offered $225 ounces all weekend on three strains—Rocklock, TheOG18, and White Walker Cush—and also have a year-round 15 percent discount for veterans. -MC)

On recreational legalization stepping on the medical marijuana market …

It’s different in every state. In Massachusetts, I’m certainly not worried about it. I think medical has a long shelf life. We’re going to have to adapt; we believe patients in the Commonwealth will continue to be patients. Naturally we’ll lose a percentage of our base, but we feel medical will be here for the long haul … Especially with Massachusetts being such a medical state, this is really the forefront for medical cannabis on the whole, where the marriage happens between mainstream medical society and cannabis …

The evidence is overwhelming at this point … There’s no doubt that narcotic usage goes down when cannabis usage goes up …

A healthy cannabis market, where patients are [sold] ounces of cannabis for $200, that’s where we are headed.