It sounds like there is a possible showdown looming in Colorado over medical marijuana growers that are considered ‘high volume’ producers. According to an article by USA Today, the head of the Colorado Health Department, Dr. Larry W0lk, announced Friday that his agency would be conducting investigations into caregivers that grow above their limit to make sure that they can provide physician justification for ‘medical necessity’ waivers.
The good news is they are not planning on shutting them down altogether. Instead, if they can’t provide the justifications, they will have to apply to become commercial growers. Unlike a commercial grower, a caregiver doesn’t have to pay licensing fees, or undergo criminal background checks, or pay taxes on their operation since they are supposed to not be making any profits – only receiving reimbursements for their expenses.
At least one caregiver is not happy. Per the USA Today article, “”This is criminal and this is mean,” argued Jim Clark Jr., a high-volume caregiver. Clark says marijuana patients are best treated with oils and concentrates that require large amounts of raw pot.”
If you live in Colorado, what do you think of this? Will you be affected by it? Do you think that some caregivers are ‘working the system’ or do you think that this is an attempt to go after well-meaning people in an attempt to get more dollars out of them? I’m curious to see how this plays out. I wonder if people in Colorado will end up doing what people in Oregon do, where they get multiple caretakers that have multiple patients and put them all on one property. In that way caregivers in Oregon are able to have gardens with hundreds of plants without violating any rules.
