cannabisnews.com: Veterans, Dispensaries Oppose Colo. Pot Changes
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Veterans, Dispensaries Oppose Colo. Pot Changes
Posted by CN Staff on July 20, 2009 at 20:40:30 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Denver -- Medical marijuana users and businesses that supply them with the drug urged Colorado's health board Monday to reject proposed new rules that would limit suppliers to helping only five patients at a time.About 400 people, nearly all of them opposed to the proposed regulations, packed an auditorium at a college campus near downtown Denver at the beginning of the all-day hearing. They argued the board didn't have a right to meddle in the constitutional amendment passed by voters that made Colorado one of 13 states that allow medical marijuana.
They also said the five-person limit would make it harder to find legal supplies of the drug and make it harder for dispensaries to survive and continue offering a range of marijuana varieties to treat different diseases.Dispensaries owners and their employees were among the opponents. Other critics included a group of veterans who said marijuana helped them treat problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and a grandmother from the western Colorado town of Olathe who grows her own marijuana "like tomatoes" on her farm.The grandmother, 68-year-old Berta Jameson, is proud that her marijuana, which she uses to treat her glaucoma and arthritis, is grown outside without special lights or chemicals. She said the state should oversee dispensaries to make sure their plants, pot cookies and teas are safe and healthy, rather than limiting suppliers to serving five people at a time.But the state's chief medical officer, Ned Calonge, said the rapidly growing medical marijuana program will "continue to grow out of control" unless more restrictive rules are adopted. He said the state may have to make cuts to other public health programs because of the recession and can't afford to spend more money regulating medical marijuana.Calonge, police officers and prosecutors also say the current system is susceptible to fraud and causes confusion over who can legally grow marijuana.Right now, patients with certain conditions, including HIV, muscle spasms and chronic pain, can use medical marijuana as long as they get a doctor's approval and register with the state. The law permits patients or their designated caregivers to grow up to six marijuana plants or possess two ounces of usable marijuana.The law doesn't address dispensaries, businesses that have sprouted in Colorado to serve patients. Backers of the amendment say the dispensaries didn't exist when the law was passed.Calonge said the amendment defines a caregiver as a person and doesn't think a dispensary can be considered a caregiver under the law.Deborah Schultz, a co-founder of The Healing Center dispensary in suburban Westminster, said she, her partner and three employees supply marijuana to 150 patients, including a special strain for people suffering from multiple sclerosis. If the rules are passed, she said she doesn't know how she'll decide which patients she'll have to turn away to be in compliance.She said her business pays state sales tax on the marijuana it sells and has hired a massage therapist who had been struggling during the recession. But she said the center is more than a business. It hosts barbecues and low-cost yoga classes for its clients, some of whom donated supplies to furnish it."This center was built by its patients, so how are we going to tell 150 people they have to leave?" Schultz asked.Calonge said some dispensaries have been forging patients' names on documents, allowing them to increase their business. He also said one doctor recommended that 200 people get medical marijuana cards in one day, even though he said it would be impossible for a physician to see that many people.Another one of the proposed rule changes would require that all signatures on forms be notarized.Schultz said the state should regulate dispensaries if there are problems, using the $90 each patient pays to register with the state to cover the cost.There are 9,112 people registered to use medical marijuana in Colorado, up 2,000 just in the last month. Ron Hyman, the state health department registrar who oversees the medical marijuana registry, predicted that at that rate, 15,000 people will be signed up by the end of the year. He credited the growth to the confidentiality of Colorado's registry and to the Obama administration's announcement that it would no longer raid medical marijuana facilities.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Published: July 20, 2009 Copyright: 2009 The Associated PressCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on July 21, 2009 at 11:42:18 PT
Seems like one of those bite the bullet times
DesMoines Register.I find that NateBorland poster obnoxious. Some one needs to tell him... because of his mocking remark, ""We can't really prove it, but it can't be that bad - it's from the Earth!"", that we can indeed... really "Prove" it. we can prove it with reams of studies, personal experiences, and you can see it with your own eyes. The strange thing is, people like him ignore it. They discount it so deeply they don't bother to see it... or something. They are blinded and blocked by something. They have closed minds and are extremely "Wise ... in their own eyes".Storm Crow's list? Might have to type those studies in one at a time.Are you registered and commenting over there, Rev?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by greenmed on July 21, 2009 at 11:03:57 PT
RevRayGreen
Onward and upward!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by FoM on July 21, 2009 at 09:30:54 PT
RevRayGreen
Pharmacy Board Agrees To Public Hearings on Medical Marijuana July 21, 2009Iowa pharmacy regulators will hold a series of public hearings, starting next month, about whether the state should legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.The Iowa Board of Pharmacy, which previously has expressed doubts about the idea, voted unanimously Tuesday to hold hearings on the issue. After the hearings, it will decide whether to make a recommendation to the Legislature next spring.The board decided to hold the hearings shortly after it voted to turn down a request that it reclassify marijuana as being legal for medical uses. That vote came in a longstanding case that led to a judge ordering the board to consider the matter.SnippedURL: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090721/NEWS/90721013/-1/SPORTS09
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Comment #8 posted by greenmed on July 21, 2009 at 08:24:22 PT
RevRayGreen
Best wishes today. I hope all Iowan patients, activists and supporters who are able to attend will do so for a large turn-out.From the link in FoM's Comment #7: DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa Pharmacy Board expects to attract a large crowd Tuesday as it discusses medical marijuana. ...That bodes well. Thanks to you, Rev, and Mr. Olsen and all fellow activists for moving this forward. I'm hopeful we'll read good news on this very soon.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 21, 2009 at 06:11:43 PT
RevRayGreen
Good luck to you today!Pharmacy Board To Discuss Medical Marijuanahttp://www.kcci.com/news/20127648/detail.html
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on July 21, 2009 at 06:09:22 PT
The GCW
You're very welcome.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on July 20, 2009 at 23:06:56 PT
It's wonderful that the Board of Health
made the right decision.I'm so glad for people in Colorado that need or might need it someday.Now... I think it might be a good idea if someone came up with a better title or designation for growers of medical marijuana than "Care givers". That title, obviously, gives prohibitionists too much to quarrel with.
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on July 20, 2009 at 22:56:09 PT
FoM,
Thanks for post #1 this evening. ... You're on top of it.Indeed, that's very good news.
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Comment #3 posted by RevRayGreen on July 20, 2009 at 21:43:14 PT
REPRESNT HUGE !!!! Colorado
strength in numbers wins.......tomorrow HOPEFULLY a Round 3 KO with the Iowa Board of Pharmacy........we have traction now in Iowa....science is what they want we will blind them....just like Thomas Dolby.Board May Launch Medical Marijuana Review
Public Hearings May Be Held On Issue-July 20, 2009DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa Board of Pharmacy may consider the possibility of a scientific review of the medical use of marijuana.Pharmacy board executive director Lloyd Jessen said the board on Tuesday will begin looking at a proposal that would lead to a series of public hearings around the state this year on medicinal marijuana. The hearings would allow public comment on the issue and look at the pros and cons of medical marijuana.According to Jessen, a result of the hearings could be a recommendation to the Legislature next year.Earlier this year, the board rejected the arguments of advocates who want to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.A bill introduced to the Iowa Legislature that would allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes stalled earlier this year.
Iowa Board May Launch Medical Marijuana Review
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 20, 2009 at 21:04:34 PT
Good News
Good news just keeps happening.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 20, 2009 at 21:03:05 PT
Health Board Rejects Key Medical Marijuana Changes
By Claire Trageser,The Denver Post A proposal that medical marijuana users feared would cut off their access to the drug was rejected by the Colorado Board of Health Monday night.July 20, 2009In addition to rejecting a plan to limit medical marijuana caregivers to five patients, the board also refused to require caregivers also help patients with their daily activities. The decision was met with a loud cheer from the 50 or so people remaining in the audience that had numbered 500. People stood up, jumped up and down and screamed. Hundreds of patients authorized to use medical marijuana testified Monday that proposed changes to the state's medical-marijuana law would have devastating health implications for them. The Colorado Board of Health meeting contemplated new definitions to parts of the law that governs who may grow medical pot and how many patients they serve. The most controversial change to the amendment would have limited growers — known as caregivers — which sometimes take the form of dispensaries serving hundreds of patients, to supplying five patients at a time. URL: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_12879779
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