DENVER – Lawmakers are considering a proposed bill that aims to crack down on medical marijuana caregivers and patients with extended plant counts.
The effort was presented to the Marijuana Revenues Interim Committee on Monday by Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace, a former House minority leader and former 3rd Congressional District candidate who sits on the panel.
Pace said there are currently two registry systems, one operated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and another by the Department of Revenue.
“We allow the two departments to speak to each other, while still protecting patients’ rights,” Pace explained of his proposed bill.
The measure would direct the health department to develop rules in order to determine “debilitating conditions.” It also would require that two physicians recommend an extended plant count.
Amendment 20, passed by voters in 2000, allowed for extended plant counts for debilitating conditions. The state constitution provides for only six plants per patient without an extension. Caregivers are allowed to grow as many plants as their patients are permitted.
Similarly, Colorado residents, as a whole, are allowed to grow up to six plants recreationally because of Amendment 64, passed by voters in 2012.
But officials recently have grown concerned with the medical side, suggesting that patients and caregivers are gaming the system in order to grow excessive amounts of marijuana.
One of the problems is an inability to track the caregiver-patient system, said Pace, a Fort Lewis College graduate.
“There’s zero ways to prohibit a patient from going to caregiver, to caregiver, to caregiver, telling each one of them that they are their primary caregiver. There’s no tracking system,” he said.
His bill would require all caregivers to register with the health department, while also imposing penalties for not registering. The proposed legislation also would require the state to determine if patients are registered with multiple caregivers or dispensaries.
Registry information – including plant count – would also be made available electronically to law enforcement.
The interim committee can recommend two bills for the Legislature to tackle next year. The panel has one last meeting to go before it decides on what bills to potentially advance.
Pace said the exchange of information can be done confidentially, thereby maintaining constitutional protections.
Some think otherwise
But at least one prominent medical marijuana attorney already disagrees. Rob Corry has been representing medical marijuana patients in Colorado for nearly a decade.
He won a pioneering jury trial in 2006 in Gunnison District Court in which a jury agreed that the patient-registry system is optional. The Colorado Constitution does not require that a person be on the registry. A physician’s recommendation can be enough, Corry said.
“It sounds blatantly unconstitutional,” he added. “The medical marijuana registry is, and always has been, optional. In order to claim the constitutional protection for the medical use of marijuana, you can have no interaction whatsoever with the state health department and still be perfectly legal under the laws of our state, whether you’re a patient, caregiver or physician.”
Corry suggested ulterior motives, arguing that the intent of the bill is to raise additional revenue for the state by forcing people to the retail marijuana marketplace. Medical patients are exempt from a 25 percent combined special sales and excise tax.
“Their motives could not be more obvious,” Corry said. “Clearly, they’re carrying water for the dispensaries who are concerned that they are saddled with an untenable regulatory and tax burden that artificially increases the price of marijuana.”
Health officials also expressed concerns, pointing out that patients were not represented on the committee.
“We’ve been treating it up to this point as everything in there is confidential and can’t be shared,” said Karin McGowan, with the state public-health department, who sits on the committee. “I’m a little worried that if this goes to the Board of Health, I don’t know what kind of a wormhole we’re going to go into.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
