CO : Colorado Board of Health may revise marijuana law

[allenlovesgreen]

Colorado Board of Health may revise marijuana law
The definition of "caregiver" could limit medical-marijuana dispensaries in Colorado
07/19/09|The Denver Post| by Claire Trageser


Hundreds attend the Colorado Board of Health Public Rulemaking Hearing on the rules and regulations pertaining
to the medical use of marijuana at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus on July 20, 2009.
The hearing had to be moved from the offices of the Department of Health to the Tivoli because of the increased
public interest. (THE DENVER POST | Kathryn Scott Osler)

he Colorado Board of Health today will vote on a proposal that may cut off some of 7,360 registered patients' access to medical marijuana.

The proposal would shut down small and large medical marijuana dispensaries by limiting them to selling their medical herbs to five patients at a time.

Currently there is no limit to how many patients they can supply.

At issue is wording in Amendment 20, passed in 2000 by Colorado voters, which allows people with debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer and HIV/AIDS, to grow their own marijuana or appoint a "caregiver" to do it.

Caregiver has, however, in some cases taken the form of dispensaries that serve more than 600 patients each.


A Marijuana plant in Huerfano County.
(Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

The health board is proposing to tighten the definition of caregiver to someone who does more that just supply marijuana.

More than a thousand people are expected to attend today's meeting to voice their opposition to the changes, said Brian Vincente, the director of Sensible Colorado, a pro-marijuana nonprofit advocacy group.

One of those opposed is Damien LaGoy, who is HIV-positive and his caregiver's ninth patient.

LaGoy uses medical marijuana to treat the severe nausea he says comes with his daily cocktail of HIV medications.

"If I lose my caregiver, I don't know what I'll do," LaGoy said. "I'll have to find someone on Colfax or by the Civic Center and get it off the street."

To keep patients from buying marijuana on the streets, it should be treated like any other medicine dispensed by a doctor or pharmacy, Vincente said.

"If you go to Walgreens, they won't say, 'Sorry, we've already helped five people, we're not going to help,' " he said.

Mark Salley, the spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the proposed change is consistent with Amendment 20.

"The law states that primary caregivers provide significant care to a patient who is on the medical marijuana registry," Salley said.

The board wants to set the limit at five patients to assure caregivers can provide that level of care, Salley said.

The Board of Health passed a similar law limiting caregivers in 2004, but it was overturned in 2007 in a Denver District Court because it was enacted without public input.

After U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced in March that the federal government would respect state laws that allow medical marijuana, the dispensary business has taken off.

About 30 dispensaries have since opened in Colorado, and, if the changes are approved, the larger and even some of the smaller dispensaries will be shut down.

"It's going to take us down totally," said Lori Cookston, who owns and runs Cannabis Medical in Denver with her husband.

Cookston said she pays federal, state and local taxes for her business and, in addition to marijuana tea, candy and brownies, offers services such as massage and nutrition counseling.

Cookston said her business "came out of the closet" in April after another dispensary opened up on her block with a big sign — Cannabis Medical.

The dispensary now serves 23 patients, and each day visitors ask to join, Cookston said.

If the board decides she has to limit herself to five patients, Cookston said she will be devastated.

"We get so close to our patients," she said. "If we have to select five out of 23 patients, I don't know how we'll do that. All of our patients need us."