[420 Girl]

R.I. - Kenneth J. Berube was one of the first patients who was approved for the state's medical marijuana program to deal with an anxiety disorder and other ailments that have prohibited him from working.

But the issuance of the license that allows him to legally smoke marijuana has brought a host of unexpected problems.

Over the past 3½ years, Berube has gone through eight caregivers, or licensed suppliers of marijuana, and he suspects that some of them are illegally dealing the drug.

He has learned that at least two caregivers have forged his name on license applications, and as a result, have been approved to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. Berube said that he hasn't seen any of the marijuana that's supposed to be coming his way and and he believes the caregivers are using and/or selling the drug for profit.

``I feel it's a form of patient abuse,'' said Berube, 44, who lives in Parkway Towers in East Providence. ``There's no protection for the patients and no guidelines to deal with the shady providers.''

Berube said that he met twice with a state trooper at the Lincoln Barracks last month and told him about the forged signatures. He has yet to hear what, if anything, the state police are going to do about it.

David S. Neill, commander of the state police detective division, said that he was not aware of the complaint, but he vowed that it would be turned over to the department's narcotics division for a possible criminal investigation.

``I think this is one of the problems with the (Health Department's) system,'' Neill said. ``There are just a lot of unanswered issues.''

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