HB 1250: Edible Cannabis Medicines to Be Outlawed in Colorado

[TheReleafCenter]

From CTI:

Please copy and repost this announcement.

HB 1250: Edible Cannabis Medicines to Be Outlawed in Colorado

House Bill 11-1250 Introduced

{Denver} -- House Bill 11-1250 was introduced on Wed., Feb. 9, 2011. This
bill will outlaw all medicinal cannabis edible products in the state,
overturning the licensing scheme for Infused Products Manufacturers that
was created by the state legislature last year.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Cindy Acree (R-Arapahoe and Elbert Counties)
and Sen. Scott Renfroe (R-Weld County). Co-sponsors of the bill include
Reps. Balmer, Conti, Joshi, Ramirez, and Scott and Senators Harvey, King
K., and Lambert.

This bill has been assigned to the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. This
committee is MEETING TODAY at 1:30pm at the state Capitol to discuss a
different medical marijuana bill (HB 1043, the "cleanup bill" that further
erodes the rights of caregivers and patients in the state.).

PLEASE SHOW UP AT THE CAPITOL TODAY AT 1:30pm in the OLD SUPREME COURT
CHAMBERS on the second floor. If you weren't planning on coming to testify
on HB-1043, please come to voice your concern about the prohibition of
edible cannabis foods in Colorado.

Our patients depend on edible cannabis medicines as one of the most
important ways to ingest and benefit from cannabis. The therapeutic value
of consumed cannabis medicinals cannot be understated. This is another
direct attack on patient rights.

At the last big hearing on attacks on patient rights, only a handful of
people showed up to testify and very few of the businesses that are
directly affected. Can we change this apathy on the part of the industry?
Can we pack a hearing room once again, as we did when medical marijuana was
a civil rights movement and not just an "industry"? Let's try today!!!!

SPREAD THE WORD: 1:30pm today!!!
Thurs., Feb. 10, 2011
House Judiciary Committee
Hearing on HB 11-1043
Old Supreme Court Chambers
State Capitol Building
200 E. Colfax, Denver, CO 80201

Remember, this is a hearing on HB 11-1043, but this is the same committee
that will eventually hear HB 1250, so let's take this opportunity to
introduce ourselves to them and educate them.

SAVE CANNABIS EDIBLES!!!

BRING FRIENDS!!!!

TheReleafCenter Reviewed by TheReleafCenter on 02-10-2011. HB 1250: Edible Cannabis Medicines to Be Outlawed in Colorado From CTI: Please copy and repost this announcement. HB 1250: Edible Cannabis Medicines to Be Outlawed in Colorado House Bill 11-1250 Introduced {Denver} -- House Bill 11-1250 was introduced on Wed., Feb. 9, 2011. This bill will outlaw all medicinal cannabis edible products in the state, Rating: 5

[DenverRelief]

We'll be there today. Please participate if you can.

Everybody, get your talking points together.

It's important that we don't appear reactionary to this blatant attack, but rather keep our talking points cogent and collected.

Nothing is worse for our cause than appearing to be anything other than professional.

[Colodonmed]

We'll be there today. Please participate if you can.

Everybody, get your talking points together.

It's important that we don't appear reactionary to this blatant attack, but rather keep our talking points cogent and collected.

Nothing is worse for our cause than appearing to be anything other than professional.

Enough is enough, these sobs need to be out of office. That is it. The old saying give an inch and they take a mile has never been more meaningful. I really wonder who the hell is doing all the lobbying here. They are certainly not advocating for patients and that is what A20 is all about...THE PATIENT. Well without a patient base, there will no longer be the MMC model...period.

[HighPopalorum]

I do not believe that the "dispensary model" is appropriate and I ultimately opposed the current bill except for the part that gave communities the option to prohibit dispensaries locally... We also regulated the "prescribing" of medical marijuana by physicians in another bill. I supported that and would like to give it an opportunity to work. -Bob Gardner R-COS

Judiciary is going to be a major bitch. I warned about this guy in another thread. Gardner was strongly opposed to 1284, and plans to close all MMCs. He is now the chairman. I don't know how partisan the proceedings will be, but there's certainly a chance house Republicans will co-opt 1043 in order to ban dispensaries. On the other hand, this bill is "small potatoes" in the within the greater context of the GA's agenda so maybe it will go through with minimal fuss.

[copobo]

I told ya!

the Slippry slope speeding up!

dispensaries are next!

patients and caregiver rights are the foundation for all MMJ rights in Colorado. 1284 can be taken away, THIS easily!

[DenverRelief]

I told ya!

the Slippry slope speeding up!

dispensaries are next!

patients and caregiver rights are the foundation for all MMJ rights in Colorado. 1284 can be taken away, THIS easily!

Don't count chickens before they hatch.

I see this playing out very similarly to Boigan's ridiculous suggestions in the Denver City Council. It will be exposed as another reactionary measure that doesn't hold water

Committees have spent the better part of a year defining how infused product manufacturing will take place in Colorado. I don't expect that they will just throw it out now, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[DenverRelief]

These are the talking points I've put together to bring to the table today.

We would love to see a good turn out so that we can have a unified voice at this committee hearing.

1. Edibles are a vital part in the treatment of many of our patient's conditions for which they have been recommended the use of medical marijuana. In many cases the use of edible cannabis cannot be substituted for smoked cannabis either because the patient's condition is contraindicated for smoke entering the lungs (i.e. lung cancer) or an edible is a more effective, longer lasting method of medicating.

2. We have several patients who are in wheelchairs who use edibles to sleep through the night. They have painful conditions like muscular dystrophy that have them in constant discomfort. If such a patient were prohibited the ability to use the edibles that last throughout the night, unlike smoked cannabis, that patient's right to access has been infringed upon.

3. Other patients for personal reasons simply do not wish to expose their lungs to smoke, a choice that should remain open to them. Were regulations to pass that would remove the edible option from these patients, their constitutional right to access granted by A20 would be infringed upon.

4. Amendment 20 grants access to medical marijuana. It does not dictate what form that marijuana must take in order to be medical. Edibles provide long lasting and easily dosable relief for many Colorado medical marijuana patients, and it is not up to the legislature to determine what form of cannabis may be considered effective or medical. That is between the patient and their doctor.

5. Questions of efficacy should remain between the doctor and the patient.

6. In many cases the doctor has explicitly recommended the use of edibles to treat the condition. The recommendation gives the MMJ patient a constitutional right to access and the recommendation may explicitly state that the patient should use edible cannabis as opposed to smokable cannabis.

7. Does the state have regulations dictating how other medications are administered, such as "Tylenol must be taken intravenously", or "Percocet must be used as a suppository"? The state has not interfered in how doctors administer other medicine. What is different about cannabis that it must intervene in how doctors administer it?

8. This proposal is undue interference with the medical practice of doctors who have knowledge to actually make these decisions. Politicians are not qualified to determine what is best for patients with serious conditions and should not be allowed to interfere in treatments recommended by licensed doctors.

9. I hate to bring it up again, but the impact on tax revenue should again be considered. Edibles constitute a large percentage of our revenue, and if you take that away from MMC's you take the same percentage away from the state.

10. Jobs - unless it is the intention of the legislature to actively undermine employment, this bill should be voted down. Infused product manufacturing in Colorado employs bakers, gardeners, graphic designers, delivery staff, etc.

11. With all the requirements in HB1284 regulating how infused product manufacturing must take place, is the legislature really ready to throw that all out after months have been spent by the industry getting into compliance?

12. The safety of infused products should not be in question. Is there evidence that edibles have been causing illness, injury, or death? Is their evidence that edibles present a public health issue? Have there been incidences that require legislative attention. Has cannabis ever caused a death from overdose? No

13. I can go to the supermarket right now and buy something that I could easily overdose on. A patient can walk into an MMC and buy as much as they could eat without needing their stomach pumped, or needing to go to the hospital because of a critical condition induced by toxic compoounds.

[Denvertoad]

Safety clause.
The general assembly hereby finds,15determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety

The question would be at least to me; Who's safety has been impaired or is in need of preservation.

@Relief: I'd love to be there, but with this short a notice, and having to work, it's impossible. Loath the way I'm treated by our representatives. This really pisses me off. Excellent talking points BTW.

[copobo]

audio is here, it just began
Old Supreme Court Chamber

[canaguy27]

can anyone post a report on what happened?