Colorado: End the ‘war on patients’ access to marijuana

[Surrender]

Fort Collins City Council is considering a moratorium on new dispensaries. 6pm tonight, it's the last item on the agenda.

Here's a link to the emergency ordinance. It's full of a bunch of crap from the cops as usual. These guys and their "concerns" get way too much airtime if you ask me.

 

[Ricky four fing]

nov 11, 2009 The denver post front page:"Pot rule change voided"
props to Chief Denver District Judge Larry Naves, who rebuked the state board of health for changing rules about medical marijuana without providing adequate notice to patients!

 

[Paco]

today Ritter passed a medical marijuana tax!

 

[SELFHEMPLOYED]

uh what??? so now there is a mmj tax??

 

[Surrender]

The AG simply reaffirmed that, yes, dispensaries do have to collect sales tax on medicine.

 

[Paco]

Fox news!!!got me again!

 

[Surrender]

Fort Collins City Council voted to remove the "emergency" language from the ordinance.

Then they debated whether to make it a 3 month moratorium. Council voted in favor of this and passed it on "first reading." Council will take another vote in 2 weeks whether to pass the 3 month moratorium and it will need 10 days after that to take effect if they pass it.

So pretty good news overall. Apparently they slipped in a provision for patient numbers, I joined the webcast late.

 

[Surrender]

On Tuesday the 1st of December the Fort Collins city council will conduct the "2nd reading" and vote on the proposed moratorium on new dispensary tax licenses.

 

[Surrender]

edit: Here's the little detail:

Medical marijuana dispensary or MMD shall mean a property or structure
used to sell, distribute, transmit, give, dispense or otherwise provide
marijuana in any manner to patients or primary care-givers pursuant to the
authority contained in Amendment 20 to the Colorado Constitution and the
implementing state statutes and administrative regulations, except those
properties or structures that are used by an individual primary care-giver to
provide marijuana to a single patient.

Grow for your wife and mother and sister in law? You're a dispensary in Fort Collins.

 

[Surrender]

Medical-marijuana patients to sue over dispensary closure

Medical-marijuana patients and providers, as well as the attorneys who argue on their behalf, haven't always found the courts to be in their corner. Witness the controversial ruling in the Stacy Clendenin case, which caused the Board of Health to alter its definition of caregiver -- at least until a Denver District Court judge tossed out the change.

Nonetheless, lawyers Bob Hogan and Rob Corry, representing four patients and two caregivers, hope to jump back into the trial fire in regard to a lawsuit they'll formally announce at 11 a.m. this morning. The target? The city of Centennial, which closed a medical-marijuana dispensary called CannaMart. They'll argue that municipalities like Centennial "are prohibited from imposing land use restrictions on local businesses when such restrictions infringe upon rights upheld by the state Constitution as 'matters of statewide concern.'"

For a more detailed look at their argument, look below:

PATIENTS TO SUE CENTENNIAL TO GAIN ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Landmark case challenges municipal authority to ban all Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Centennial, Colo. -- For the first time in state history, a coalition of medical marijuana patients, together with their caregivers, will sue a municipal government to reopen a medical marijuana wellness center. The Centennial-based CannaMart was shuttered last month after city officials banned Medical Marijuana dispensaries within city limits.

Four seriously-ill medical marijuana patients, together with their two caregivers, allege that the City of Centennial violated Colorado's Constitution and relevant land use statutes when it forced CannaMart to shut down its operations on October 19.

The coalition's attorneys, Bob Hoban and Jessica Corry of Hoban & Feola, LLC, and Robert J. Corry, Jr., rely on well established Colorado case law to argue that home rule municipalities, including Centennial, are prohibited from imposing land use restrictions on local businesses when such restrictions infringe upon rights upheld by the state Constitution as "matters of statewide concern."

Medical marijuana has been legal in Colorado since 2000, when a majority of voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing individuals suffering from debilitating medical conditions to legally consume and purchase marijuana. The amendment also legalized the sale, distribution, storage, transportation, production, and cultivation of the medicine by caregivers.

WHAT: Medical marijuana caregivers and patients, together with their attorneys, will speak about their lawsuit to open Centennial to Medical Marijuana.

WHEN: Monday, November 30, 2009, 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: Arapahoe County District Court, 7325 S. Potomac St., Centennial, CO, in the courtyard by the flagpoles.

"While Centennial may not like the idea of medical marijuana caregivers providing services to patients within city limits, Colorado law is clear: the city lacks the legal authority to restrict the rights of caregivers and patients in such a way," said Hoban.

"The City of Centennial cannot amend the Colorado Constitution and cannot override Colorado's voters. Sick people have a constitutional right to Medical Marijuana, and we hope this lawsuit will ease human suffering and bring Centennial into compliance with the constitution." added Robert J. Corry, Jr.

I hope Corry does his homework.


Edit: Centennial is a home rule city so this is a good place to be making the challenge.

 

[clonedoctor420@]

thanks Surrender!

 

[pikes peak 69]

I researched home rule cities last week and found the same thing. I plan on sueing my city if they ban or restrict disp at all. The only way a hoe rule city can make their own ordinances, is if it is ONLY a local issue. MMJ falls under a State issue and State law wins.
In my eyes this is open and shut for the Attorneys and they should/will win.

pp69

Medical-marijuana patients to sue over dispensary closure

I hope Corry does his homework.


Edit: Centennial is a home rule city so this is a good place to be making the challenge.

 

[Surrender]

Larimer County to consider medical marijuana moratorium

Taking a cue from Loveland and Fort Collins, the Larimer County commissioners on Monday will consider imposing a moratorium on permits for medical marijuana dispensaries.

The commissioners will take up the matter during its 3 p.m. land-use hearing at the courthouse, 200 W. Oak St. County staff members are asking for a moratorium on approving permits for businesses pertaining to marijuana until at least July 7.

Staff members say they need time to study issues surrounding medical marijuana and the land-use implications of its cultivation, processing and dispensing.

The county has received no requests for permits, but the planning department has received several inquiries about its rules. The land-use code does not address medical marijuana.

Loveland two weeks ago approved an eight-month moratorium on permitting dispensaries; this evening, the Fort Collins City Council will have second reading of an ordinance that would impose a three-month moratorium on issuing sales tax licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries.

edit the usual shenanigans

edit2: Fort Collins passed the 3.5 month moratorium on new sales tax licenses. 10 days to get your apps in.

 

[Surrender]

A resolution for medical marijuana moratorium will be heard by the Board of Larimer County Commissioners on Monday, December 7, 2009 in the Hearing Room at 200 W Oak St Fort Collins at 3:00pm.

Passed it. Also voted to develop zoning regs.

 

[HossCartwright]

Senator Romer to Attend Cannabis Holiday Health Fair

We just received notice that state Senator Chris Romer, who will be
sponsoring a bill designed to put half of all Colorado dispensaries out of
business, plans on attending the Cannabis Holiday Health Fair on Sunday at
noon. Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown, who is proposing a different
ordinance to regulate medical cannabis in Denver, will also be there. We
hope you take advantage of this unique opportunity to visit with these
lawmakers and urge them to support patient rights. Caregivers are
encouraged to bring their patients to tell their stories!

Cannabis Holiday Health Fair
Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Location: Holiday Inn Denver-Central
4849 Bannock St., Denver, CO
(1-25 and 48th Avenue)

The event is FREE and open to the public.

The Cannabis Health Fair is a public and legislative outreach event
designed to answer questions about cannabis as medicine and how to become a
legal patient in Colorado.

Absolutely no cannabis medicine is allowed at this event. There will be
information, exhibits and videos of cannabis, as well as unique gifts for
the holidays.

For more information, see:
http://www.CannabisHealthFair.com/

 

[Surrender]

County orders medical marijuana dispensaries to shut down

Larimer county heating up

 

[mcrider]

Westminster is next

Westminster is next

Looks like Westminster has banned dispensary's.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-westminster-pot-121509,0,1878602.story

Now I have been to Herbal Remedies before and I will say its a higher end dispensary. Its kinda pricey place but very nice atmosphere. I think Herbal Remedies is the style dispensary that voters had in mind when they passed adm. 20 but looks like the city counsel is ready to waste tax payers money on a useless lawsuit.
mcrider

 

[weekapaug74]

Today the health department asked legislators to re-define the language regarding patient-doctor relationships. It will be much harder to get a card in Colorado if the state adopts the recommended changes.

http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/release/2009/121709.html

 

[Surrender]

They got smacked down in court and are sad so they come up with "concerns" instead of facilitating the situation.

edit: 30000 isn't even 1% of adults in CO what is the problem?

well this is interesting we are just getting started, people.

 

[Surrender]

Plans for Colorado medical marijuana legislation take shape

State leaders have unveiled figures showing a large portion of medical-marijuana recommendations are written by doctors who are barred from writing other prescriptions.

As of mid-August, three quarters of pot recommendations came from 15 doctors, half of whom operated on restricted licenses, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Ritter said. The number of medical- marijuana patients has tripled since that time to about 30,000 statewide, according to health department figures.

More strictly defining the relationship between physicians and their cannabis-seeking patients has emerged as the one patch of common ground in the battle over medical marijuana that will be waged in the 2010 legislative session.

Doctors would have to perform physical examinations, provide follow-up consultation and would have to possess a valid, unrestricted medical license, in a proposal Ritter has circulated.

But the governor has not yet said whether he favors the storefront pot dispensary model or limiting pot providers to a handful of patients, the most heated of the medical-marijuana debates.

"We're working with lawmakers and law enforcement on a plan to respect the will of the voters, provide some guidelines on how those legitimately entitled to medical marijuana obtain it, and rein in serious abuses," Ritter spokesman George Merritt said.

Even in the face of mounting controversy — the anecdotal spikes in crime, the anger over storefront dispensaries close to schools and the concerns of businesspeople facing potentially onerous regulations — House Speaker Terrance Carroll said he hopes the pot debate won't distract lawmakers in 2010.

"I'm hoping we'll deal with the medical-marijuana issue efficiently, with very little fanfare and maintain focus on issues at hand," Carroll, D-Denver, said.

But the state's attorney general predicts "a war," and the senator backing the single regulatory bill filed so far likens the legislation's pro-pot backers to the ragtag but spirited band of soldiers at Valley Forge.

Lawmakers will build from scratch regulations for a fledgling industry while they grapple with a more than $1.5 billion budget gap and search for ways to create jobs in Colorado, top priorities in the four-month legislative session.

"It's going to be very time consuming," said Ted Tow, executive director of the Colorado District Attorney's Council. "There are multiple different approaches to fixing the problem that have to be hashed out. The dispensaries are organizing and have money."

His group is part of a coalition of law enforcement, local government and medical groups that have helped draft an anti-dispensary proposal, though it is unclear whether a bill will be filed and who would support it. The district attorneys' group has not yet decided to support the law enforcement plan.

In the meantime, the medical-marijuana industry has become a sizable political force by enlisting communications firms, conducting polls and seeking assistance from big-name lobbyists and a former lawmaker.

Former Sen. Bob Hagedorn, who once chaired his chamber's health care committee, is careful to say he's not lobbying for the newly minted Colorado Wellness Association. To do so would violate revolving door laws.

But he is educating his former colleagues on the topic on behalf of the dispensary trade association and enjoys access to the Senate and House floors, which lobbyists do not.

At least a half-dozen new medical-marijuana advocacy and trade groups have recently hung shingles.

Are they spending public dollars on these efforts? They're supposed to be working on zoning them in rather than regulating them out of existence.