ITG

Colo. medical marijuana users surge in number
07/01/09 | Fox KDVR | Charlie Brennan

DENVER - Colorado saw a record number of people register with the state as users of medical marijuana, which many attribute to the Obama administration's statement earlier this year that it did not intend to continue with federal raids on some marijuana dispensaries.

Even though states have approved the use of medical marijuana, it does not change the fact that pot use remains prohibited by federal law.

In May, 1,230 Coloradans were approved as "patients" who could obtain marijuana from a designated caregiver, providing they have a documentation of a diagnosis from a physician who is recommending marijuana for a debilitating medical condition.

The May figure represents a significant surge from the 1,022 new patients in April, and is more than double the number for March, which was 602. The total number of patients who currently possess valid registry cards is 7,630.

The average age of all patients is 24, and 72 percent of approved applicants are male.

Those numbers are in-line with a similarly strong surge in the number of storefront clinics that dispense the drug, for complaints ranging from the effects of cancer to a category simply labeled "severe pain." Although the state does not license - nor does it keep track of - medical marijuana clinics, it is estimated that there are now at least 35 in the Denver metro area, where a year ago there were roughly a half dozen.

"The rate of increase appears to be growing," said Ron Hyman, state register of vital statistics for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "The fact that the federal government has, in the last six months, indicated that they aren't going to be doing significant law enforcement activity with these individuals, may be a factor."

Diana McKindley, who with her husband is opening the NatuRx clinic in Wheat Ridge on Saturday, agreed.

"Most people that I dealt with for many, many years were very scared that the feds would still come in and raid, like they did in California," she said. "When the federal government said they would back off, and they would let the states control it, people felt more comfortable to be able to do what they felt was right for themselves, instead of being scared.

"We had a lot of closet patients back then, and now they are able to come out and do this publicly, and be normal citizens and pay taxes on it, just like the rest of us. The word is out that it's safer now. It's just safer. They no longer have to worry about being raided, as long as they follow state laws."

But laws could be changing in Colorado.

A public hearing is set for July 20 before the Colorado Board of Health, at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus in Denver. Prominent among the changes under consideration is a provision that would limit the number of patients a provider, or "care-giver" could serve, to five. Supporters of setting such a limit say it's being proposed in the spirit of ensuring that there is truly a "care-giver"-patient relationship between the person providing the medical marijuana, and the person receiving it.

McKindley said such a limit would be "awful."

Prior to opening a dispensary - which also promotes other healing services such as massage, herbology and meditation - McKindley was providing medical marijuana on a smaller scale.

However, she said, "Five patients would call me in a day. The demand is so high, there is no way I could have taken care of the demand that was calling me, and I was just one person and doing minimal advertising. We have too many patients and not enough caregivers. I had to turn into a dispensary, because my demand became so high, that I couldn't take care of them all myself, so I grew into a dispensary.

"There numbers are going to continue to grow. And to stop us is only going to hurt the patient. It's going to devastate the patient."

Asked if she could run a viable storefront clinic, limited to five medical marijuana patients, she said, "Absolutely no way. Absolutely no way." With only five, she said, "I would be doing it still at home, out of my garage, like I was before."

Hyman said that, in considering an adjustment of the state rules implementing Amendment 20, passed in 2000, state officials were not focusing on the commercial viability of the clinics that have cropped up to supplement the services of private growers providing just a handful of patients.

"Amendment 20 and the laws and regulations that were put in place to support amendment 20, do not refer to dispensaries or clinics at all," Hyman said. "They are not mentioned whatsoever, and we have no relation with those entities."

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