Support Safe Access To Medical Marijuana In Colorado

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From our friends at SAFER...

Critical Hearing in Denver on MONDAY, JULY 20

On Monday, July 20, the Colorado Board of Health will hold a critical public hearing at which it will consider harmful changes to Colorado's medical marijuana law proposed by the Department of Public Health and Environment.

In particular, the board is considering a proposal to limit the number of patients a licensed caregiver can assist to five (5). Currently, caregivers in Colorado can assist however many patients need their help.

The proposed limit on caregivers would make it very difficult for many patients to find a suitable caregiver and maintain safe access to a reliable supply of their medicine.

Could you imagine going into a pharmacy to pick up a medication that your doctor recommended, only to have the pharmacist say, "Sorry, we can't help you because we're already helping five people?" If you agree that is crazy, please attend the hearing and showing your support for safe access to medical marijuana in Colorado.

WHAT: Colorado Board of Health hearing

WHERE: Turnhalle Room, Tivoli Student Union, Auraria Campus, 900 Auraria Parkway, Denver (Map)

WHEN: Monday, July 20th, 8:30 a.m.

IMPORTANT: This is a formal hearing, so please dress and act professionally. Signs and banners will NOT be allowed inside the building.

I won't be able to attend, but I do hope to hear of huge attendance numbers!

Take very good care, everyone ,
WHAB

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Bump, bumpity bump!

,
WHAB

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Here's the Denver Posts take on things...

Auraria crowd stands up for access to medical marijuana
By Claire Trageser
The Denver Post

Posted: 07/20/2009 02:44:21 PM MDT
Updated: 07/20/2009 03:30:55 PM MDT

About 350 people signed up to testify at the Colorado Board of Health's meeting today about proposed changes to the state's medical-marijuana laws.

The most controversial of those planned changes would effectively shut down medical-marijuana dispensaries and could potentially cut off access to the drug for some of the 7,630 Coloradans registered as patients who can legally use marijuana.

Public testimony started around 2 p.m. at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus, which was standing room only as more than 500 spectators filled all of the seats in a large auditorium and balcony.

Despite slips of paper distributed by Sensible Colorado — a pro-marijuana, nonprofit advocacy group — reminding those in attendance to "be respectful and professional" and not to "speak out of turn or taunt speakers," the audience often broke out in cheers, hisses, or boos.

The board is contemplating a number of changes to Colorado's Amendment 20, passed by voters in 2000. The amendment allows those with debilitating medical conditions to either grow their own marijuana or appoint a "caregiver" to do the growing for them. The proposed changes to that amendment would limit caregivers, which sometimes take the form of dispensaries serving hundreds of patients, to supplying five patients at a time.

Eleven people were scheduled to testify in support of the proposal, but two were not present when their names were called, and one, the owner of Cannabis Therapeutics in Colorado Springs, seemed to have accidentally signed up on the wrong side.

"This must be a mistake," said Glenn Schlabs, the president of the board of health.

Holly Dodge, the deputy district attorney for El Paso County, spoke in support of the proposal on behalf of 20 other DAs on the Colorado District Attorneys' Council. She said the proposed changes would clarify, not change, the intention of the original amendment.

"There is no way of appropriately protecting a patient when they have a caregiver with 300 other patients," she said. "That's not caregiving, that's marijuana growing."

Her comments were met with boos from the crowd.

Other supporters who spoke, including police officers and spokespeople for anti-drug advocacy groups, emphasized the proposal's ability to help law-enforcement officers control marijuana growing operations. Because there is no limit on a caregiver's size, several speakers said police officers have had difficulty determining whether a growing operation is legal.

"While Amendment 20 is clear in its intent, its definition is vague enough that district attorneys cannot meaningfully advise people on the street who are enforcing marijuana laws," said Helen Morgan, Denver's chief deputy district attorney.

In addition, the board heard testimony from Ned Calonge, chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Ron Hyman, registrar of vital statistics at the state health department; and representatives from Sensible Colorado and the Colorado branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

In his presentation to the board, Hyman said the state's marijuana registry does not have enough resources to manage what he called the "explosive growth" of registered marijuana patients.

The registry has grown by about 1,000 patients a month this year, including 2,000 new patients in June, Hyman said. He predicted that the state would have 15,000 registered patients by the end of the year.

"We're doing the same amount of work in a day that we used to do in over a month," he said.

Calonge then explained why the proposal sets the patient cap for caregivers at five.

"We define a primary caregiver as significantly participating in a patient's everyday care," he said. "If those caregivers are making home visits to each patient, considering travel time, they could visit five patients a day."

Calonge cited numerous examples where a caregiver is defined as seeing five patients a day, including Rhode Island's medical-marijuana law and the number of patients nurses from a home-health care company sees.

"We believe we have ample precedent and supportive evidence for this number," he said.

The board then heard testimony from those opposed to the proposal, including a doctor, a police officer, a caregiver and a medical-marijuana patient.

"More regulation drives people to the black market, and that means patient care suffers," said Dr. Paul Bregman.

"If this law passes, patients will lose their access to safe medicine and some will die," said the owner of a Colorado dispensary. "Please be compassionate."

The dispensary owner said that although his dispensary serves more than five patients, he believes he provides significant care to each one. When asked by the board where he would set his own patient limit, he said that even 5,000 patients would not be too many.

"I'd like to be under the same standards as Walgreens or a Wal-Mart pharmacy," he said.

Lauren Davis, a former senior district attorney in Denver said the proposal would not address the concerns raised by the other law-enforcement officials who had testified.

"Limiting caregivers will increase the number of small-grower operations," she said.

Although the public-comment period of the meeting was set to begin at 12:50 p.m., by noon, the meeting was already an hour behind schedule. After public comments, the board will deliberate and then vote on whether to approve the proposal.

Auraria crowd stands up for access to medical marijuana

Take care all,
WHAB

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It turns out this blog...

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/20 ... rijuan.php

has been following the days deliberations/events in real time (thanks for the tip mysophilia, TCC)

Here are the last and most important portions from the blog...

8:32 p.m.: A motion to further define "caregiver" as someone who does housekeeping, makes food for patients, drives them places and gets them marijuana -- basically the coolest mom ever -- failed. The crowd clapped.

8:37 p.m.: The board is debating whether to vote on limiting the number of patients tonight or convening a stakeholder group to try to come up with a compromise.

8:45 p.m.: The board rejected the proposal to form a stakeholder group.

8:49 p.m.: A motion to define "caregiver" as someone who cleans your house OR makes you food OR drives you places OR gets you marijuana passed. So basically, all a caregiver would have to do is provide medical marijuana. The crowd cheered loudly. Someone whistled.

8:55 p.m.: Score one for medical marijuana! A motion to limit the number of patients to five narrowly failed. The crowd whoops and cheers.

9:05 p.m.: The board corrected a typo. The hearing is (hopefully) winding down after twelve hours. People are leaving. TV cameras are chasing them.

9:15 p.m.: It's over! Hearing adjourned. Lotsa clapping. People shuffle out.

9:20 p.m.: There is a gaggle of reporters around Calonge. "The board wasn't convinced by our concerns," he says. He adds that the state doesn't "have the resources to enact what they just told us to enact."

Way to go Colorado, Colorado patients, and Colorado advocates

Thank you all for showing up too...without you this day would have turned out much differently.

It MUST have been an impressive sight

Congratulations again, everyone!!!

Take care, all ,
WHAB

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Here's the latest from the Denver Post...

WHAB

Health Board Rejects Key Medical Marijuana Changes

Claire Trageser The Denver Post
Posted: 07/20/2009 09:18:55 PM MDT
Updated: 07/20/2009 09:27:32 PM MDT

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.

In 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.

Jonathan Edens, an Iraq war veteran, is one of the 350 who signed up to testify at the meeting, held at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus.

"When I came back from the war, I had real bad PTSD and torn ligaments," said Edens, a Colorado Springs resident who is a registered medical-marijuana patient. "I was so addicted to pills, I couldn't even look at myself in mirror without being disgusted. Now that I've started smoking marijuana, I've dropped 50 pounds and am off most of the medication I was on."

Another registered patient, James Potts of Erie, also warned the board of the consequences of closing dispensaries.

"Beyond the difficulty of producing quality medical cannabis, even fewer dispensaries produce consumables like tincture oils and baked goods that many patients depend on as their sole method of relief," Potts said.

Other testimony ranged from scientific explanations from biochemistry researchers to conspiracy theories.

Eleven people were scheduled to testify in support of the proposal, including Holly Dodge, the deputy district attorney for El Paso County, spoke represented 20 other DAs on the Colorado District Attorneys' Council.

The rule changes, Dodge said, would merely clarify the intention of the original amendment. "There is no way of appropriately protecting a patient when they have a caregiver with 300 other patients," she said. "That's not caregiving, that's marijuana growing."

Her comments were met with boos from the crowd.

Other supporters who spoke, including police officers and spokespeople for anti-drug advocacy groups, emphasized the proposal's ability to help law-enforcement officers control unlicensed pot growing operations.

Ron Hyman, registrar of vital statistics at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the state's marijuana registry does not have enough resources to manage what he called the "explosive growth" of registered marijuana patients, which now number 7,630. He said that number could reach 15,000 by the end of this year.

Ned Calonge, the health department's chief medical officer, said the proposal sets the patient cap at five, because that is the number a caregiver can reasonably handle daily.

The board also heard testimony from those opposed to the proposed changes, including a doctor, a police officer, a caregiver and a medical-marijuana patient.

Lauren Davis, a former senior district attorney in Denver said the planned changes will not address the concerns raised by the other law-enforcement officials who had testified.

"Limiting caregivers will increase the number of small-grower operations," she said.

Health Board Rejects Key Medical Marijuana Changes

Great job everyone!!! Fantastic work

Thank you all!!!

Take care, all
WHAB