Well The Supreme Court already denied hearing the petition......


{Denver} -- The patient petition filed with the Colorado Supreme Court
last week was denied on Monday (1/10), only 5 days after it was filed. The
Supreme Court opted not to decide the case, forcing the patient and
caregiver plaintiffs to start in lower courts and work their way through
the appellate courts, a process that will take much longer.

The petition had been filed on Jan. 5, 2011 by Andrew B. Reid, senior
counsel for Springer and Steinberg, P.C., a Denver law firm, on behalf of
Kathleen Chippi, a Nederland caregiver and dispensary owner, and the
Patient and Caregivers Rights Litigation project, an association of
patients, caregivers and physicians that have been harmed by the passage
of these laws.

The petition was an original jurisdiction petition, asking the Supreme
Court to decide urgent constitutional issues. The Court has discretion on
whether to decide original actions and hears only a small percentage of
such petitions filed each year. So its denial of this case was not a total
surprise, but patients had hoped for more compassion from the court.

"Apparently, the Supreme Court does not think that it is a matter of great
urgency that sick and dying people in Colorado are being denied their
constitutional rights of safe and confidential access to medicine," says
plaintiff Kathleen Chippi. "This delay in deciding these constitutional
issues only harms patients by forcing them to wait months or years for the
Court's decision and spend thousands of dollars to decide issues that the
Court knows it will be ruling on eventually. In the meantime, the
Department of Revenue and the state legislature will continue with
impunity to enact unconstitutional laws that harm patients." She says,
"We are being treated like second-class citizens yet again."

The petition had asked the court to overturn large parts of laws passed by
the Colorado legislature last year (HB 10-1284 and SB 10-109) because they
restrict patient access to medicine and violate patient privacy rights
guaranteed by the Colorado Constitution.

The Department of Revenue is in the process of replacing the Colorado
Department of Health and Environment's confidential patient registry with
their own massive government database of patient medicine information. The
new Patient and Medicine Tracking Database and Surveillance System will
cost the state at least $4 million to set up and will be shared by 5
government agencies and state and federal law enforcement. It will include
up to 16,000 different security cameras in Medical Marijuana Centers,
visible to law enforcement via Internet web cameras 24/7. The MMCs will be
required to videotape patients as they purchase their medicine and log
each patient purchase into the database. All of this will be open to law
enforcement, including CBI and DEA, and other agencies on demand.

Just as the state has taken away the Constitutional protection of
caregivers, they are now taking away the Constitutional protection for
patients. MMC applicants were forced to revoke their constitutional right
to be a caregiver in exchange for the statutory privilege of applying to
operate an MMC. Similarly, patients are being told they must revoke their
constitutional right to patient confidentiality in order for the
"privilege" of purchasing their medicine at an MMC. Not only is this is
completely backwards of how the constitution was supposed to work, but it
opens patients up to immeasurable harm if (when) their information is
leaked from the government database. Patients stand to lose their homes,
their jobs, their health insurance, their children and more if it becomes
known that they are medical marijuana patients. That is why
confidentiality is at the foundation of Colorado's Medical Marijuana
Constitutional Amendment.

Chippi and other patients are worried these electronic patient records can
never be secured on the Internet, as evidenced by WikiLeaks and other
recent "accidental" disclosures of records. Once the records have been
leaked, the harm has been done and is irreparable to patients.

Chippi will now file her action in District Court. The Patient and
Caregiver Rights Litigation Project event on Wed. evening to discuss these
issues will continue as scheduled. Please spread the word and invite your
friends:

PUBLIC MEETING
Wed., Jan. 12, 2011
Casselman's Bar and Venue
2620 Walnut Street, Denver, CO 80205

The Patient & Caregiver Rights Litigation Project
the Cannabis Trade Council and the Cannabis Therapy Institute will be
hosting a Public Meeting and Medical Marijuana Legal Panel

FREE and open to the public.

Schedule:

6:00pm - 6:30pm: Mingling and cash bar

6:30pm - 7:30pm
PATIENT & CAREGIVER RIGHTS LITIGATION PROJECT
Discussion of current lawsuits to regain patient and caregiver rights and
the positive benefits for cannabis business. * Andrew B. Reid, Senior
Counsel, Springer and Steinberg, P.C., author of Original Action Petition
to Colo. Supreme Court filed 1/5/11. * Kathleen Chippi, Patient and
Caregiver Rights Litigation Project * Kristy A. Martinez, Attorney at Law,
offered Amicus Support for Original Action Petition * Peter Loyd Weber,
Attorney at Law, offered Amicus Support for Original Action Petition *
Richard M. Gee, Attorney at Law, offered Amicus Support for Original
Action Petition * Eric Moutz, Attorney at Law, offered Amicus Support for
Original Action Petition

CANNABIS TRADE COUNCIL
Discussion of security issues regarding new DoR rules and organization of
CTC Committees. * Anthony P. Ibarra, security expert (DigaNET, Inc.,
Denver) Head of Cannabis Trade Council Electronic Security Committee *
Veronica Carpio, medical cannabis business owner (420 Highways) Head of
Cannabis Trade Council Committee Organizing

7:45pm - 9:15pm
MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGAL PANEL
Moderated by the Cannabis Therapy Institute
Topics for discussion will current and future lawsuits, compliance with
the new DoR rules, the bleak legislative picture, and the prospects of a
ballot initiative in 2012. Opportunity for Q & A from the audience.

Panelists

Dennis Blewitt (Boulder)
Civil Rights Attorney and Author of Dr. Gonzo's Blog
gonzo2's posterous - Home

Richard Gee (Blackhawk)
Phone: (303) 569-6430
MC Squared Law

Danyel Joffe (Denver)
Attorney at Law
Phone: 303-757-6572
The Joffe Law Firm

Bill Lahey (Littleton)
Lahey Law Firm, P.C.
Phone: 303-399-3308
Home | Lahey Law Firm, P.C.

Kristy A. Martinez (Longmont)
Phone: 303-772-3230

Eric Moutz (Boulder)
Phone: 303-440-3923
The Law Offices of Eric J. Moutz, LLC - Colorado Trial Attorney Providing Legal Service to Denver, Boulder, and the Front Range.

Ann Toney, Lawyer (Denver)
Phone: 303-399-5556
Ann Toney, P.C. - Index

Peter Loyd Weber
Attorney at Law (Broomfield)
303-818-8625
http://www.peterloydweberlaw.com

For more information, see:

Patient and Caregivers Rights Litigation Project
http://www.CananbisLawsuits.com/

Cannabis Trade Council
Cannabis Trade Council: A Cannabis (Medical Marijuana) Professional Trade Organization and Industry Group

Cannabis Therapy Institute
Cannabis Therapy Institutue - - Medical Cannabis (Marijuana) Research, Education and Advocacy in Colorado