fingerprints for buds

[copobo]

Colorado Proposes Medical Marijuana Surveillance from 'Seed to Sell' | Criminal Justice | Change.org

It sounds like the stuff of some dystopian novel: fingerprint scans required before every transaction; tracking devices attached to goods to ensure they're consumed by the purchaser and not someone on the black market; 24-hour closed-circuit video recording the face and state-issued identity card of each and every citizen for law enforcement review, lest some miscreant attempt to take more than their fair share of rations.

But if officials in Colorado get their way, that will be the brave new world for tens of thousands of medical marijuana users, who in exchange for their doctor-prescribed medicine will be expected to sacrifice what's left of their privacy and submit to the watchful eye of the state.

Maybe it's not the pot that's making users paranoid.

The total surveillance regime is being proposed by the Colorado Department of Revenue's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, which under a law passed by the legislature earlier this year has been tasked with drafting new rules to essentially crack down on the proliferating number of dispensaries in the state.

The will of the public, which voted to legalize medical marijuana in the state a decade ago (and with no limits on dispensaries), is so often an unbearable annoyance to those in power. But rather than completely flout their constituents' desires, politicians -- helped by unelected regulators with an apparent penchant for voyeurism -- seem determined to just make the state's medical marijuana system as cumbersome and discouraging to potential patients as possible.

The draft regulation, which there will be a public hearing on in January, mandates that dispensary owners record every aspect of marijuana production and distribution, "from seed to sell," as a spokeswoman put it in an interview with the ABC affiliate in Denver. And it does so in minute detail. (Read more after the jump.)

"A single camera shall be placed at each Point of Sale location allowing for the recording and recognition of any transacting individuals identification and medical marijuana removed from the premises," the regulation states, detailing that this will be accomplished "by temporarily placing the authorized Identification, and registry card in a 12â?� x 12â?� area on the counter top, where they will be captured from the above mounted camera." In addition, "all medical marijuana shall be placed on [a state] approved and calibrated weight scale so that the amount removed from the licensed premises may by captured from the above mounted camera."

Further, all dispensaries "must have camera coverage capable of identifying any activity occurring in or adjacent the licensed premises," and cameras in grow rooms must be capable of capturing video in low light. All video would be available to law enforcement "by request" (i.e. not a warrant).

The Associated Press reports Colorado regulators are also considering "using biometrics to track patients, requiring a fingerprint scan before each sale to make sure the customer matches the marijuana card," and -- my favorite -- "mandating that medical pot include radio-frequency identification devices, somewhat like coded tags on library books, to keep track of who's getting what."

Naturally, all of this is being done in the name of the public. "We want to protect the patient," spokeswoman Julie Postlethwait told ABC. "This in the long run legitimizes and helps the industry."

Medical marijuana advocates disagree.

"There is no conceivable justification for this system," Robert Chase of Colorado Coalition for Patients and Caregivers told the channel. "It's a highly intrusive process of having to give fingerprints and being under constant video surveillance. It invokes George Orwell's 1984," he said. "The whole thing is preposterous."

"It seems like there could be an ulterior motive here," Randy James Martinez, a medical marijuana patient, said in an interview with the AP. "Why do they need to keep such close track? Opiate abuse is far more prevalent and far more destructive than any marijuana use or abuse."

And that's a good question: why do Colorado officials want to keep such close track on medical marijuana? Press officials claim they want to prevent the distribution of contaminated or moldy pot, but that's not credible -- California has a much more developed medical marijuana system and no one there appears to be complaining about poor product, despite the lack of closed-circuit monitoring. It all seems to come back to discouraging participation in the state's program by driving up costs for dispensary owners and violating the privacy of patients, ultimately thwarting the will of voters.

Stand up for the rights of Colorado patients and demand regulators with the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division withdraw their creepy surveillance plan.

copobo Reviewed by copobo on 10-03-2010. fingerprints for buds Colorado Proposes Medical Marijuana Surveillance from 'Seed to Sell' | Criminal Justice | Change.org It sounds like the stuff of some dystopian novel: fingerprint scans required before every transaction; tracking devices attached to goods to ensure they're consumed by the purchaser and not someone on the black market; 24-hour closed-circuit video recording the face and state-issued identity card of each and every citizen for law enforcement review, lest some miscreant attempt to take more Rating: 5

[oldhaole]

Just goes to show the logical progression of MMJ laws when government wants to intrude into the private sector. The goverment wants to control all aspects of production and distribution. They smell extra revenue. To do that the little guy that they can't control, has to go.

Idiots, All they will do is make patients go back to the underground market. Step back 10 years. All the work you did, and just follow the money...Sad.

[gypski]

Just goes to show the logical progression of MMJ laws when government wants to intrude into the private sector. The goverment wants to control all aspects of production and distribution. They smell extra revenue. To do that the little guy that they can't control, has to go.

Idiots, All they will do is make patients go back to the underground market. Step back 10 years. All the work you did, and just follow the money...Sad.

It only illustrates how crazy society or government has gotten over a fucking plant. They see the use of it as the downfall of society or something, when in reality, it will be just the opposite. The government has become a paranoid system full of selected boogie men. :twocents:

[oldhaole]

It's not so much the plant. It the money the plant produces. The states are broke. They will take money from wherever they can. Cannibis is the countrys largest cash crop. Billion upon billions of dollars, the government doesn't see a red cent.

I see two possible outcomes. Either Colorado or BI Hawaii.

Colorado we all know what is happening. Goverment is moving in. They're moving in to take control, and in the process they slowly strangle their golden goose. Taxes? F**k You. DIVE DIVE DIVE and back underground we go. California will be next.

Contrast that to the Big Island. Government knows exactly where the money sits, and it is cool with it. You want to grow on your land? No problem, just keep it under 20 plants. They pass an ordance making mj the lowest legal priority. Behing J walking.

Every year a flood of money roars into town. And the county takes its cut on taxes at every level. The economy roars, everybody is happy everybody gets a cut, see ya next year.

It's the difference between skimming cream vs milking the cow... with sandpaper gloves.

[bikeTripper]

A Modest Proposal:

It would take some money to do so, but I'd like to see someone put forth a referendum that would require all of the same precautions onto the manufacturing and sale of alcohol, tobacco, over the counter drugs, etc.

With a well thought out set of talking points you could really show the inequity of treatment of Cannabis as it relates to these more dangerous products.

If done right it could be a great piece of theater to promote more rational behavior.

If somehow it really passed, well we'd really get to have a public talk about prohibition then, wouldn't we?

[PHUNKJUNKEE]

It's not so much the plant. It the money the plant produces. The states are broke. They will take money from wherever they can. Cannibis is the countrys largest cash crop. Billion upon billions of dollars, the government doesn't see a red cent.

I see two possible outcomes. Either Colorado or BI Hawaii.

Colorado we all know what is happening. Goverment is moving in. They're moving in to take control, and in the process they slowly strangle their golden goose. Taxes? F**k You. DIVE DIVE DIVE and back underground we go. California will be next.

Contrast that to the Big Island. Government knows exactly where the money sits, and it is cool with it. You want to grow on your land? No problem, just keep it under 20 plants. They pass an ordance making mj the lowest legal priority. Behing J walking.

Every year a flood of money roars into town. And the county takes its cut on taxes at every level. The economy roars, everybody is happy everybody gets a cut, see ya next year.

It's the difference between skimming cream vs milking the cow... with sandpaper gloves.

Excellent post/Analogy! At this rate they'll be pushing us all underground again and then they wont get their $$$¢¢ - Hypocrites is the word constantly coming to mind.

[ThaiBuddhaMan]

It's just another step in the direction of paving the way for Big Business to come in and take over. I see a day when most growing will be by Big Business, whether it's Big Pharm or Big Agri. It's going to be like alcohol, which also has a ton of rules & regs. You can still home-brew but can't sell it. Eventually there will be micro-juana companies, just like there are micro-brews. Private small Caregivers I think are going to be pushed aside and will not be allowed to grow for their patients but only pick up from a MMC. A lot of MMCs aren't going to be able to afford to stay in business because of the huge overhead, so they either sell their business or I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of smaller MMCs merging either with each other or getting swallowed by larger MMCs. Kinda sucks huh...

I think it's eventually going to be legal, but watch out for what you ask for. We'll get what we want, Legalization, but at what cost?