CO state changing rules and regs re: med. marijuana

FYI - for those of you who are not aware, the state is proposing amendments to the Medical Use of Marijuana (5 CCR 1006-2), Regulation 2 - Definitions and Regulation 4 - Change in applicant information.

There will be a hearing in March in Denver; but for those who cannot attend, a letter to [email protected] will help.

Here is a copy of my argument regarding the proposed changes. You can get the entire amendment and meeting details from the state or from Linda. The following states the basic purpose and the proposed amendments. I encourage those who are concerned about this amendment to submit your responses.

Basis and Purpose.
The Department is proposing further definition of a primary care-giver to ensure that the requirements of the constitution are met in that the care-giver is providing more assistance than simply providing medical marijuana to the patient.
The Department is proposing that signatures on application and related forms be notarized to insure authenticity and that the patientâ??s rights be protected.
The Department is proposing that the number of patients per care-giver be limited to five to insure each patient is receiving the significant care the law provides for them.
The Department is proposing that application and related forms be accompanied by a verifiable identification document to comply with the recommendations of the Office of the State Auditor and to protect the integrity of the program.
The Department is proposing not issuing a new registry card to the patient after addition or change of care-giver. Continued issuance of new registry identification cards increases administrative costs, which cannot be covered by the program.

Comment:

The proposed amendment will present an extreme hardship for the patient, especially if the caregiver or the patient does not have the resources, ability (e.g., patientâ??s medical condition), expense, or time to grow medical marijuana. It is an expensive and very time consuming process to correctly grow medical grade marijuana, not to mention the legal risk in growing marijuana given federal law. The proposed redefinition of a caregiver, i.e., being significantly responsible for the patient beyond supplying marijuana, suggests that a person in this capacity would most likely be a friend or close family member because of the financial burden of the alternatives (e.g., hiring someone like a CNA) or the ability of the existing care giver to be able to be significantly responsible. The aforementioned legal risk, time, expense, ability, and obtaining supplies would pose huge hurdles to the production of medical marijuana for the best intended caregiver (family or friend) or patient. If a patientâ??s caregiver (in this expanded capacity) or patient cannot practically grow medical marijuana (which will no doubt be the situation in most cases), where does the patient go to obtain the medical marijuana? There is only one answer to that: through drug dealers since the number of potential care givers will be significantly limited.

This obviously will create an expensive (it will cost more to purchase) and potentially dangerous (dealing with drug dealers more often) alternative; not to mention the fact that the quality of the medical marijuana obtained in this way could be inconsistent or not even medically helpful.

Sanctioned and responsible dispensaries depend upon caregiver-ships to operate within the Colorado law. If there are limits placed on the number of caregivers a patient can have, then only small dispensaries can exits and only those that can afford to exist. This limitation will no doubt discourage dispensaries and further limit patient choices.

Getting responsible caregivers who want to do more than just supply marijuana are in short supply and leave the patient having to deal with drug dealers, assuming that a patient can even find a dealer or dispenser - they are certainly not located in the phone book - otherwise, what are the patients choices? Go without this medication?

The bottom line is that if this legislation becomes law, the patient will be exposed to greater risks to their health and safety, as well as increasing the financial burden by significantly limiting and possibly denying the ability to obtain the prescribed medication altogether.