Death of CO MMJ Bill

[sac beh]

I think most folks on this board will be happy that Chris Romer has given up on his current Colorado MMJ reform bill, citing too much criticism and inability to bring all sides to agreement.

Death of Romer's Medical Marijuana Bill Presents Meaningful Opportunity for Quality Reform

The legislation would have required Coloradans to inform on each other Soviet-style. It sought to forfeit power to the federal government at the expense of rights afforded under the Colorado Constitution. And it advocated for industry rules that would have turned law-abiding entrepreneurs into marked targets for unrepentant thieves.

The bill deserved to die. And on Saturday evening, it was pronounced dead by its own author.

Romer made his pronouncement on Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-romer/colorado-medical-marijuan_b_417488.html

So my attempts to bring medical marijuana out of the shadows through a complex regulatory structure are now over. Significant portions of law enforcement and the MMJ community are at this point unwilling to find common ground. Both sides are stuck and focused on their narrow needs and wants after a 30-year battle on the war on drugs. Medical cases like Janice's compel us to come together and make truly common sense policy and regulations for a reasonable market for medical marijuana. We need to propose a model that will not only destigmatize medical marijuana by working to keep it out of the hands of those who would only seek to use it recreationally, but more importantly to create a fair and regulated market that is best for the patients who can benefit immensely from it.

So where do we go from here? In order to buy a few weeks for Janice and others to mobilize, we now will divide the legislation into two bills. The first bill, which I will sponsor in the Colorado Senate, will deal solely with the need for a meaningful doctor patient relationship to get a MMJ referral and the creation of a 24-hour per day registry for patients. This is the one part of the bill that most reasonable people can agree on.

The second bill dealing with dispensaries and growing operations will start in the House and most likely will be very similar to the Sheriff Association's proposed legislation, including a five patient cap per caregiver. I will continue to fight for clinics to serve patients like Janice, but I am getting increasingly skeptical that either side understands her needs.

 

[Kola Radical]

Woo Hoo.... hell yeah.

Huffington Post deleted my profile for being too liberal... haha. Sad but true.

But a great victory for our side. This calls for a fattie.

 

[LIFEISGOOD]

Lets Rob Corry to write a bill and see if he can get someone to sponsor it.

 

[theJointedOne]

right on. Glad to see examples of people coming together against a lawmaker. its time for real democracy in this country

 

[dakin3d]

As anticipated, this weak ass bill failed. I second the proposal of Corry to help shape a bill worthy of approval. Cheers

 

[danimal7]

be on the look out for the next one!

 

[danholan]

Here is the article from the Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14170284
Somehow it does not look like victory to me.

 

[Flying Goat]

Keep on plugging, y'all. Our bill was not presented in AL last year, as it would require distribution thru FDA-approved pharmacies, of which there are only 6 in the state, which would make it unduly burdensome for patients to access their meds.

It was decided to hold it back from vote & remove the "FDA-approved" clause, thereby allowing distribution thru non-approved pharmacies like Walgreens, CVA, etc.

The bill will be presented this month by another representative who is more "mainstream" than the original author... Wish us luck!

Cheers,

Alabamians for Compassionate Care

 

[mexilandrace]

I am curious about the 5 patient limit thing, if that passes what happens if you already have more than 5? who gets those patients?

Now that I really think about it, that would make the supply drop substantially. Some people just can't grow, and a ton of people can't grow for shit.

I don't think people should be able to have 1500 patients, at some point its fairly obvious greed takes over.

 

[Duckmang]

I don't see the five patient limit gaining any ground. They've tried that before and they couldn't make it stick despite their best efforts. Now there is more of us and we're more informed and more vocal.

 

[jesushadafender]

Very true Duckmang, I don't think it will be able to stand any ground with the activists around here.

 

[Totah Sam]

The next logical step would be for Colorado to legalize recreational use of Marijuana.

 

[Rednick]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I wonder if the Sheriff's bill will pass. wink, wink.

 

[snowschool]

They tried to limit it to 5 patients back in the summer- Shot down. It's over. As soon as they taxed it, it was over. Look up some history about Colorado prohibition about a century ago..... The same thing happened with alcohol....( medical whiskey and snakebites..look it up) Once they taxed it, it was over. I don't care what anybody says- Colorado has been on pace to make over 12 million in revenue on just the registration fee's alone in just one year! I don't even know the tax figures but every dispensary in my county made 30,000 to 75,000 in their first months open. No state politician wants to throw that money away when they know damn well just as many people will still use cannabis and they will only make enough cash off busting people to barely pay to keep them in jail!!!

 

[Duckmang]

We've had a statewide legalization bill up pretty recently but the "opposition" spread misinformation about it and it didn't get the votes. The "voter info" pamphlet mis-stated the facts about the proposed law and gave the impression that it would be easier for minors for gain access to marijuana. The reality is that it would have had harsher penalties for distributing to minors than are currently in place. If I recall the "responsible party" for the "mis-print" was fined $10K.

Sooooooooo we didn't get our legalization but they spent $10K to keep it easier for their kids to have access to marijuana.


Don't try to rationalize it.

 

[milehimedi]

It seems like the five patient thing is just another of their scrambling efforts to shut it down.

They act like they can easily manipulate the state constitution. Not completely sure, have not fact checked, but I think the state constitution is hard to fuck with. Does anybody know what the process would be? Don't the people have to vote?

 

[wsmith]

god forbid any horrible evil recreational users would get to live without fear of prosecution, Mr. Romer. that would be worse than, oh, I don't know, any other form of real crime targetting a real tangible VICTIM. that single sentence is enough to make me sick what is wrong with these reefer madness prohibitionists this whole drug war against a plant is such a tragic waste of resources. i guess it keeps some otherwise unemployable wastes working and paid in a downer economy though...

 

[Shrek]

Yep, just legalize it across the board, once all the western "blue" states have all legalized, the feds will have to make some compromises, or will simply be ignored.

Legalization is right around the corner.............resistance is futile!

 

[DopeRoper]

I don't see the five patient limit gaining any ground. They've tried that before and they couldn't make it stick despite their best efforts. Now there is more of us and we're more informed and more vocal.

CDPHE dropped their effort for a five patient limit because they didn't have the legal authority to make law and they knew it. They finally realized that they aren't decision makers, just administrators.

If the legislature codifies the five patient limit, overturning that will require a successful challenge to the legislation; a tougher proposition than getting CDPHE to stop their meddling.

 

[Double Kindness]

I also agree that Rob Corry should possibly write some guidelines for the future for the medical marijuana dispensaries, he represents almost everyone I talk to, including myself and he really seems to be on the side of the advocate and the patient as well as dispensary owners. He walked my doctor through how to reccomend more than the 6 allowable plants for myself as I get strain locked really easily, after using a med for a day and a half it will stop working for me. Corry is definately someone who understands both where we want to go with marijuana and the law and is on our side. So who wants to put it together and ask him in person if he would consider doing this?