UPDATE ON THE BILLS IN COLORADO

[Bud Spleefman]

Ughhhhh! Apparently something passed this a.m. in the House Appropriations Committee. This is an email I recieved shortly after... not good, at all!

ACTION ALERT:
Patient Rights Under Attack in Colorado​

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There are now two law enforcement bills working their way through the Colorado state legislature that would seriously harm medical marijuana patients and their caregivers in Colorado. Both of these bills have seen strong support from legislators, both Democrats and Republicans.
Law enforcement bill #1 (SB109) would destroy the confidentiality of the Registry by allowing the government to use patient records to determine "suspicious" activity by physicians. It allocates over $1 million of patient registration fees to prosecute these "suspicious" physicians.
The bill's sponsor, Senator Chris Romer (D-Denver), promised the Cannabis Therapy Institute repeatedly that he would use patient registration fees to create 24/7 access for law enforcement ot the Registry so that police could confirm whether a patient was legal after business hours and on weekends. This has been the #1 patient concern for years and would prevent many patients from being arrested and taken to jail simply because the Registry offices were closed. Instead, Romer wants to use patient fees to prosecute those patients' physicians, allowing unprecedented access to the formerly confidential Registry.
Law enforcement bill #2 (HB 1284) is a 49-page regulatory monstrosity that seeks to eliminate 95% of existing dispensaries. It creates a state medical marijuana licensing board run by the Department of Revenue. Dispensaries would have to get a state license, a local license, and a cultivation license. Dispensaries would be subject to warantless searches of their premises Law enforcement would be able to come in as often as they wanted to count and weigh a dispensary’s cannabis and search through patient records to make sure the dispensary didn’t have "too much". Law enforcement would be able to track patients as well, to make sure they weren't purchasing "too much" medicine. HB1284 would create a new class of law enforcement official, the "medical marijuana enforcment investigator" that would be in charge of these warrantless searches.
Senator Romer, one of the co-sponsors of HB1284, discussed the bills at a meeting of the Medical Marijuana Business Alliance on April 15, 2010 at the Loews Hotel in Denver. His comments were shocking to the audience.
Romer described the new regulatory regime. "The Department of Revenue will regulate it with guns," he said. "Auditors with guns will be in your dispensary every 5 to 7 days" to count and weigh your medicine. Since you will be seeing so much of your auditor, Sen. Romer said, "Your auditor will be your best friend. Yes, he will have a gun, but that will be OK." Romer repeated the phrase "auditors with guns" dozens of times in his 20 minute speech, almost seeming gleeful at the thought. Romer also said that the progress on HB1284 has been stalled because "we’re trying to figure out exactly how many auditors with guns we will need."
The big bombshell fell when Romer was asked how much a state dispensary license would cost. He replied that the fee would probably be around $50,000 a year, maybe more.
This is the future of medical marijuana: the Law Enforcement Model to Medicine. Readers in other states should be wary as well. Law enforcment all over the country will be using Colorado's regulatory regime as a model for their own state's regulations down the road.​

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TAKE ACTION NOW!​

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Call or email your local House and Sentate Members and ask them to:
VOTE NO ON HB1284 and SB109​

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House Offices: (303) 866-2904
Senate Offices: (303) 866-2316​

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Provided as a Public Service by the:​

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Cannabis Therapy Institute​

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[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]P.O. Box 19084, Boulder, CO 80308 Phone: 877-420-4205 Web: www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com Email: info@cannabistherapyinstitute.com ​

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More information and email addresses on our website. Please make copies.​

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Updated April 16, 2010​

This could have been printed on hemp paper.
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[~pHaNtOm~]

funny how i warned a bunch of peeps of this a long time ago and they all said i was crazy and said it would never go down like this.. who's crazy now fukd up

 

[Bud Spleefman]

$50,000.00 for a Growers License? It almost sounds like Romer was drunk and being a smart-ass at that meeting! Auditors with guns?!!!! Riiiiiight!

 

[scarred4life]

less than four weeks left before you have to start again next year, Romer...
you sly, shit-eating fuckwad

 

[j-fly]

Fuck the government. Underground Resistance is strong. Its a war. Your either part of the empire, or part of the rebel alliance.

I am going to keep doing what i believe is right regardless of all these stupid bills.

 

[SnowGro]

Living in a Country that has waged an openly and clearly defined War on me most of my adult life.

"auditors with guns"

QFT.
Off the cliff with the accelerator matted.

 

[Surrender]

The governor won't sign 1284 without a local option. Expect them to sneak it in at the last minute.

It'll probably be a clause that says towns/counties must vote by next April on how to define and whether to allow dispensaries. All the moratoriums will be extended out to that date, courtesy of the legislature.

Most likely unconstitutional but we'll need a judge or two to agree.

 

[cobcoop]

Romer is grabbing at straws. Keep your heads up fellas weve come too far.

 

[funkfingers]

Auditors with guns.. HA! that's just what we need are more government officials with guns.
I know that makes me feel safer knowing their going to be giving a bunch of accountants guns that I'm paying for with my tax dollars.. I think our next goal should be to give the lifeguards at public pools harpoons, bring in those pesky kids during adult swim, that will show em.

 

[kumplocke]

Oh Bother, where is the KY?

 

[Greenmopho]

Romer is grabbing at straws. Keep your heads up fellas weve come too far.

Seriously! This is a step backwards.....California and Washington are about to completely legalize, meanwhile this is what our politicians come up with? auditors with guns "counting" our medicine? So I guess dispensaries will have to shell out $5,000 for a special "counting" medicine box that will be the only certified unit to store our medicine. Why don't they just go all the way and put a friggin GPS tracking device on ever nug of weed in the state, so they can find out exactly who is smoking it and how much! Its genius! I should run for governor!

This bill will only help rebuild an underground market....where do you think the Russians will go with a bill like this? How about the Mexican gangsters? They will have their own "auditors with guns", and this will only create more violence and crime.

How will this effect growers? Weekly checks by auditors with guns also? So can a thief just follow around one of these auditors with guns to all the grow ops in CO and go back the next day and rob them?

How come there is no agency that checks how much liquor you drink or buy or stock at your store?

How come there are no auditors with guns seeing how many oxycotins or xanax are getting sold at Walgreens? and later make it in the hands of high school kids?

I'm sure a lot of LEOs are behind this bill, because MMJ has really put a hamper on "crime fighting" for them, and there are too many cops on the payroll right now sitting on their ass, because they can't go after weed at the moment. So instead of cutting the Law Enforcement budget and putting some of those cops out work, forcing them to get real jobs where they don't harass people on a daily basis, Romer goes and creates a special agency for all those damn near unemployed cops to get back on the grind and legally harass stoners again! Not all cops are bad, and we need cops to some degree, however this is giving special powers and a seperate agency to the already asshole "weed harassing cops"...some cops just can't help it....its been illegal too long....

Colorado needs its own Barry Cooper....I hope that dude runs for president!

 

[cobcoop]

Yep seriously, listen to his recent press interviews. The guy is getting desperate he's throwing shit every week to see what will stick. I'm a bit of an optimist though so FWIW.

 

[funkfingers]

Colorado needs its own Barry Cooper....I hope that dude runs for president!

maybe not an ex narcotics officer, but at least someone who will openly admit what a waste of resources the "drug war" is..

When was the last time you heard of a big Meth bust, did all the tweakers just get their mmj rec and start puffing instead? I think they should re-examine where the proceeds are going from mmj, if we give it to LEO I wanna see more real drug dealers on the news, not pot growers.

I was under the impression that the majority of the people in colorado didn't really think herb was a big issue, in fact didn't statewide decriminalization barely not pass..

I personally would like to see more regulation on prescription drugs, I mean how many times can a doctor ,knowing what a doctor knows give you deadly addictive substances to treat pain, when in fact there is something underlying causing that pain. We live in a society of treatment not cures, and it's sad how profits have in-fact become more important than human life..

sorry about the rant..

 

[Greenmopho]

Yep seriously, listen to his recent press interviews. The guy is getting desperate he's throwing shit every week to see what will stick. I'm a bit of an optimist though so FWIW.

Yea, I mean, we made it this far, right? We can't go back to ground zero from here.....there will be obstacles like Romer....but I think hope is on the horizon...

I personally would like to see more regulation on prescription drugs, I mean how many times can a doctor ,knowing what a doctor knows give you deadly addictive substances to treat pain, when in fact there is something underlying causing that pain. We live in a society of treatment not cures, and it's sad how profits have in-fact become more important than human life..

Exactly, spot on....I haven't seen a meth bust, or a child prostitution ring, or cocaine smugglers on the news....how about all the kids overdosing on their mom's pain pills? Not even a headline....but MMJ is news worthy, even if its bullshit news.....they try to keep us blind...

 

[CanibusCave]

Where can we sign up to be the "Auditor with gun". Are we able to test the product, you know, make sure its medical grade.

 

[starter09]

Drug War Czar

Drug War Czar

maybe not an ex narcotics officer, but at least someone who will openly admit what a waste of resources the "drug war" is..

Federal Judge John Kane comes to mind immediately - it was listening to him talking to baby fed lawyers at the Punchbowl about drug laws that first showed me that there was an argument other than "It's natural and I really like it" for legalization.

Of course, he's such an independent-minded cuss that the "gimme everything right now" folks would get pissed off, too. Wouldn't bother me too much - I don't want dispensary owners writing all the rules, either, that's a recipe for small growers and patients getting squeezed out, imho.

 

[cannagirl]

The govt wants money, thats all this whole MMJ movement is for them, REVENUE!!!! The proof is in the pudding, thats why the enforcement division that they want to create with this bill is part of the revenue department, its the reason the DEA is also part of the treasury department, its all about the money. The reason the govt doesnt mess with the pharma companies, that distribute millions of pills and kills hundreds of teens because of overdosing, is because every year they give millions of dollars to Uncle Sam

The small growers and patients cant do that, thats why the govt is trying to put them out of business. They know who fills their pockets and its not Jo-schmo with a 10 lighter going in their basement, its the 50k, 200+ plant count grows. There is no taxable value on a small grows, suppling maybe 2 or 3 dispensaries. Plus with the banks not wanting to play now, its still basically an under ground market with store fronts, the govt doesnt get their share that way. We the growers need to come up with a way, collectively, to ensure the govt gets their money, stays the fuck out of our grows and violence doesnt worsen, until then, its the big boys making the rules, and the way they see it is either play their game or get out of the way.

 

[Duckmang]

Anybody have a link to the whole "auditors with guns" speech? I can only find snippetts and edited cuts. I know someone looking for it, and if properly edited it could be good propaganda for our side.

 

[ski_phan]

Dispensaries would be subject to warantless searches of their premises Law enforcement would be able to come in as often as they wanted to count and weigh a dispensary’s cannabis and search through patient records to make sure the dispensary didn’t have "too much". Law enforcement would be able to track patients as well, to make sure they weren't purchasing "too much" medicine. HB1284 would create a new class of law enforcement official, the "medical marijuana enforcment investigator" that would be in charge of these warrantless searches.

WAH WAH WAH WHHAAAAAAAAATTTT!!

thats fucking nutty

 

[Balazar]

This whole thing is about money. I don't want to give the gov't shit. They fuck up everything they get their hands on. Politicians don't deserve more money, and giant corporations sure as hell don't deserve my support. We need to push through to legalize it the way we want it. Cali is getting a bullshit deal and I think they will take it out of desperation. We need to write the ammendment that we want and vote on it and send a missile-cock down Romer's throat.