When the state Board of Pharmacy meets tomorrow, it is expected to take the first step toward regulating a system that Nevadans can use to buy cheaper drugs from Canada. But while that issue has drawn plenty of public interest amid talk of potentially "unsafe" drugs, a greater health risk to Nevadans has flown under the radar of any honest regulation.

The Legislature didn't just create an opportunity for boundless scientific research in 2005 with the Nevada Institutional Review Board, it created limitless potential for harm and corruption.

The Nevada IRB was crafted to allow the Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners to review, approve, oversee and control certain research studies which use drugs and other therapies it regulates. In theory, the IRB was created for the very necessary and infinite hope offered by stem-cell research. In reality, it's a massive testing ground where the unending pockets of the pharmaceutical companies can exert power over measly state boards and the lawmakers who create them.

Jockeying for control of the IRB was inevitable, given the massive amounts of cash in play. But if the desired result was important scientific research and top-notch safety regulation, the Legislature erred by granting oversight of the IRB to the Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners instead of a board regulating more traditional medicine.

While the right research could advance medical treatment and offer hope for those battling cancer or suffering with incurable diseases, Nevada's current regulatory structure could also set up the state for a gigantic lawsuit.

One of the many problems with this scheme is that the homeopaths sought creation of the IRB without mentioning to anyone that they were broke. A June 10 statement from the attorney general's office shows the homeopathic board owed $42,249 even as a reconciliation statement of July 23 showed the board with an ending balance of $20,828.

Perhaps they've found an Enron-esque ... er, creative ... way to hide debt.

By this January, the board's indebtedness to the attorney general's office -- from all that legal advice it requested-- had climbed to $72,000. The Legislative Commission last week authorized an audit amid concerns voiced by Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, that the board was trying to cover up its debt. It was Schneider who sponsored the original bill creating the IRB.

The minutes of one board meeting, for example, do not accurately reflect audio recordings of the meeting. The minutes of another board meeting -- posted on the board's Web site -- were different than the ones approved by the board. The board's secretary-treasurer, F. Fuller Royal, hadn't even submitted minutes for the board to approve from the past five meetings. Board members have been replaced.

The president of the board is osteopath Daniel Royal, F. Fuller's son. Observers say the board is awash in infighting between Dr. Dan and his father.

In 1998, osteopath Daniel Royal made a bit of news when his Green Valley offices were searched by the feds during an anthrax scare. William Job Leavitt Jr., a former Mormon bishop and past collaborator of Daniel Royal's, was arrested after sources indicated he and an Ohio microbiologist had a deadly form of anthrax in their possession. Tests later revealed Leavitt's anthrax was a harmless form used as a veterinary vaccine, and charges were dropped.

Royal and Leavitt formerly collaborated on immune system research at the now-defunct Great Lakes College of Clinical Medicine IRB.

There's a fine line between cutting edge research and quackery. Dr. Wayne Woo Suk was noted as one of the most influential people of 2004 by Time magazine before it was determined this year that he faked much of his cloning research.

Schneider said he wants to get to the bottom of the homeopathy board's problems before the IRB gets in over its head. "The IRB is so critical to health care in this state," he said.

It could also be critical to the pockets of each doc that does alternative research in the state. To that end, former Republican Party Chairwoman Earlene Forsythe has been applying a bit of political pressure to help get her husband, James Forsythe, involved with the IRB. James Forsythe, a homeopath who runs the Cancer Screening and Treatment Center in Reno, paid a $1,000 fine to settle a dispute with the Board of Medical Examiners in 1995. He pleaded no contest to charging his cancer patients excessive lab fees.

At best the Nevada IRB is just a bunch of laymen unfamiliar with the state's Open Meeting Law and unable to follow the legalese of the statute that created it. But it appears all too likely that what auditors find will make the Legislature rethink the whole deal next year.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. You can reach her at 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com