April 6, 2011

Colorado Legislation Brings Mixed Reviews From MMJ Organizations

April 6, 2011
colorado cannabis amendment 64

colorado cannabisMMJ Groups Say No On HB 1043

No on HB1043 – Caregiver Registration Bill

Colorado House Bill 11-1043, the Medical Marijuana “Patient Rights Cleanup
and Caregiver Registration” bill, will be voted on by the Colorado House of
Representatives on Thurs. (4/7). The stated intent of this bill is to
“clean up” some unclear language from the medical marijuana bill that
passed last year. However, this new bill also contains a whole new set of
attacks on patient rights contained in its 25 pages.

Several people have had questions about a Washington, DC-based lobbying
group called the “Marijuana Policy Project”, who sent out an email on
Tuesday asking people to send an email to their Representatives stating
they should Vote YES on HB 1043, and that the constituent would “appreciate
it” if they would remove the caregiver registry language. The “Marijuana
Policy Project” sample letter to legislators told people to tell their
Reps: “This is really the only bad provision in the bill.”

CTI’s analysis shows that this bill is anything but good for patients. It
puts more control of medical marijuana into the hands of the Department of
Revenue, instead of the health department. It does little to protect
patient privacy and continues the process of setting up a massive
government database to track patient purchases from “seed to sale.” It
eliminates Constitutional protection for anyone applying to become a
state-licensed Medical Marijuana Center (MMC). And it attacks patients
through their caregivers, making caregivers register the location of their
patient grows and Registry ID numbers of their patients with the Department
of Revenue.

As a patient rights organization, the Cannabis Therapy Institute is
encouraging people to contact their state Representatives and Senators and
ask them to vote NO on HB1043.

Here are some of the specific provisions that CTI finds worrisome. Click
here to read the full bill:
https://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2011a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont2/35aeb58fdbda42dd8725781600583ce4?OpenDocument&Click=8725773B00770CE1.8975551e51fa01d087256dd30080e1d5/$Body/1.A5C

1. Eliminates Constitutional protection for the actions of MMC licensees.
Licensees “shall not be subject to the terms of” Article XVIII, Section 14
of the Colorado Constitution (Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Law). (page 4)

2. Extends the moratorium on new Medical Marijuana Center applicants in the
state for another year, until July 1, 2012 (page 4). This harms patients
and industry by artificially eliminating competition.

3. Restricts an MMC to sell only 6 non-flowering plants to a patient every
3 months (page 11)

4. Limits Medical Marijuana Infused Products Manufacturers to 500 plants
(page 15)

5. Allows law enforcement to destroy plants and cannabis that they seize,
in violation of Article XVIII, Section 14 of the Colorado Constitution,
which requires law enforcement to preserve patient medicine.

6. If an MMC license is revoked, that MMC’s marijuana will be immediately
considered to be a “controlled substance.” Presumably, then immediately the
owners and employees would be subject to criminal prosecution, since the
marijuana they possess would no longer be considered legal medical
marijuana. (page 16)

7. Makes a list of locations of all medical marijuana grow locations in the
state open to the public. (page 19)

8. Requires caregivers to register the location of their grows with the
Department of Revenue. (page 20)

9. Requires caregivers to surrender the Registry ID numbers of their
patients to the Department of Revenue. (page 20)

10. Allows the Department of Revenue to share locations of caregiver grows
with law enforcement and local governments. (page 20)

11. Presumably makes locations of caregiver grows part of public records,
as there is not provision in this bill to exempt them from public records.

12. Appropriates $1 million from the Medical Marijuana Program Fund to hire
14.5 additional full-time employees (FTE) for the “Circle Program”, an
inpatient substance abuse treatment facility in Pueblo that only has 20
beds.

LISTEN LIVE ONLINE
Debate on HB-1043
You listen online to the full House of Representatives debate:
Thursday, April 7, starting at 9am
https://www.coloradochannel.net/

ACTION ALERT
Ask your state Representatives to vote NO on HB1043, as it does not help
patients.

Colorado State Representatives
Cut and paste into the bcc: field of your email program

[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Reddit
[js-disqus]
Recent & Related Posts
Recent & Related Posts