State health board delays vote on new medical marijuana rules

Face The Staff Report

The Colorado Board of Health has postponed a March 18 vote on whether to restrict the number of medical marijuana patients a registered caregiver can serve. The move comes after activists inundated the board with hundreds of protest e-mails and letters. A vote is now expected in June.

According to the board, the vote was delayed to help find a larger room to accommodate the large turnout expected at the meeting. Nearly 5,000 Coloradans are currently on the state's medical marijuana registry.

"It appeared that the interest in this issue is quite large and we wanted to have a venue that was reasonable for the size of the crowd that we are expecting, particularly folks who may need ADA assistance," said Ron Hyman, the state's registrar of vital statistics. "We are looking for another venue large enough to handle a crowd. June is when we are looking at now. Because of the administrative procedures involved in changing the venue, we need to get a timely notice out to everybody about the change."

"For now, medical marijuana patients in Colorado can breathe a sigh of relief," said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, a pro-medical marijuana organization, in an email to supporters. "But we will need your help again in June."

Under current law, medical marijuana patients can obtain their marijuana legally through a caregiver system where caregivers are unlimited in the number of patients they can serve. Health officials maintain that some caregivers are serving up to 200 patients, which is too many to ensure adequate care.

"I'm not sure how they can do that, even with the best of intentions," Hyman told the Rocky Mountain News last month.

In 2007, a district court judge shot down similar state efforts to effort to limit patient-caregiver ratios, saying officials had violated state open meetings laws in crafting the new limit during closed door 2004 meetings.

"A limit to the number of patients a caregiver could serve could have devastating impacts on patients," said Robert Corry, a Denver attorney who represents caregivers and patients. "It will decentralize the process and send many patients back onto the streets in a desperate effort to find their medicine."

Colorado is one of 14 states to allow for the legal consumption of marijuana for those with serious or chronic health conditions, including diabetes, cancer or glaucoma.