The divisions between the pro- and anti-marijuana crowds at the state House Judiciary Committee meeting were already clear last week when the young man who described himself as a recovering heroin addict approached the microphone, The Denver Post reports. As the man spoke about marijuana use leading kids to harder drugs and fears that medical marijuana from dispensaries would make it into teenage hands, the lines became even clearer. Law enforcement officers and treatment counselors in the audience looked on with interest, some nodding their heads. Several members of the marijuana community snickered or exchanged incredulous whispers during the testimony.

Marijuana activists and law enforcement officials sparred Thursday as the bell rang on the fight over medical-marijuana dispensary regulations at the state Capitol, The Denver Post reports. The first committee hearing on House Bill 1284 — which would require dispensaries to be licensed by both state and local governments and is the more controversial of the two medical-marijuana bills at the Capitol — stretched into the evening. Lawmakers said late Thursday that they would not vote on the measure until another date.

In other coverage:

The Durango Herald: A bill to legalize and regulate medical marijuana shops began its voyage through the Legislature on Thursday as scores of patients turned out to testify. The House Judiciary Committee listened to their stories but did not take a vote on House Bill 1284 Thursday night. The bill remains a work in progress, as the sponsor put forward a top-to-bottom rewrite of the bill that was released to the public last month.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Nearly 100 people spoke to the House Judiciary Committee either to support or oppose a measure that would dramatically limit the number of patients who can be served by the hundreds of dispensaries that have opened in recent months. Because of the volume of people who wanted to be heard on House Bill 1284, committee chairwoman Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, said proposed changes to the measure and a final vote on it would occur another day. She didn’t say when that would happen.

Westword: Nearly one-hundred medical marijuana demonstrators, smokers, passers-by and media members were at the steps of the Capitol today for a protest against Senate Bill 1284, which was being discussed inside the state house. Before the speakers got going, DJ Freddy, a local DJ with the Hustlin’ Flow Music Group crew, spun beats and flows about smoking “super silver haze” while a few people sat down to burn one on the granite steps. Behind them, school children touring the capitol peered out the glass front doors and pointed at people.

A state senator said Thursday he wants to ask voters to impose a special tax on medical marijuana, The Denver Post reports. Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said he intends to amend a bill that creates regulations for medical-marijuana dispensaries to include a provision that places an excise tax on medical marijuana, similar to the special excise tax that already exists for alcohol. Because of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, that provision — if first approved by lawmakers — must be put before the voters before the tax could be imposed.

David Harsanyi writes: The medical marijuana bill sponsored by state Rep. Tom Massey and Sen. Chris Romer will not only create economic incentives to continue the drug war (as dispensaries will now have cause to oppose legalization) but it also would set a number of harmful regulatory precedents.

From Westword: When Representative Tom Massey spoke to Westword on January 15 about the medical marijuana bill he was assembling, he described dispensaries as “a loophole in the law” — the kind of language that warmed the heart of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who has long wanted to put the medical marijuana genie back into the bottle. But last week, when Massey’s bill was introduced, dispensaries (renamed “centers”) were very much a part of the proposal, rousing the ire of Suthers, who sent a letter to legislators making it clear the bill was no longer to his liking. As for Sensible Colorado’s Brian Vicente, a medical marijuana advocate, he wasn’t wholly negative toward the proposal, but he’s readying a ballot measure in case the final version falls short of his standards.

Communities could ban medical marijuana shops outright, and the ones that survive would have to reincarnate as nonprofit corporations subject to strict licensing and regulations under a bill unveiled by state lawmakers Wednesday, The Colorado Statesman reports. The long-anticipated bill by Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, and Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, would establish an 18-month moratorium on new marijuana businesses while allowing existing operations to transition over the same period into nonprofit “health centers” subject to rules modeled on the state’s liquor code. The bill was set to be introduced on Thursday and heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Monday.

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Attorney General releases statement underlining his concerns with the Massey-Romer medical marijuana legislation

DENVER — Colorado Attorney General John Suthers released a letter to members of the Colorado Assembly today summarizing his position on medical marijuana legislation, which is scheduled to be presented before a House committee next week. Suthers’ letter underlines his and the law enforcement community’s concerns that the Massey-Romer bill clearly goes beyond what the voters intended when they passed Amendment 20 in 2000.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Suthers may be unavailable to attend next week’s hearing on the bill.

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Editor’s Note: The referenced bill wasn’t introduced at the time this story was posted. A draft copy of the bill is included at the bottom of this story.

By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
A group of lawmakers introduced an expansive medical marijuana reform bill Wednesday that would eliminate the for-profit medical marijuana dispensary model, forbid any new retail dispensaries from opening up for 18 months, and give local municipalities the right to ban dispensaries from operating within city limits.
The bill would also ban on-site consumption at the medical marijuana “wellness centers,” which would be required to grow 90 percent of the marijuana they sell. The latter proposal would legally force the large major independent medical marijuana growers who don’t team up with a dispensary in the next 18 months out of business. Medical marijuana caregivers or growers who serve five or fewer patients would be exempt from the requirements.
While the bill’s chief architect, Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, was originally reported to be considering the law enforcement community’s proposal to cap the number of patients a caregiver could serve — effectively killing the dispensary model — the bill introduced Wednesday would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to continue operating if they transition into a non-profit wellness center. Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, the bill’s one Democratic cosponsor, believes that turning dispensaries into nonprofits would cause owners to reinvest profits back into their patients and businesses.
Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado, a medical marijuana lobbying group, did not object to turning dispensaries into nonprofits. However, he did say other parts of the bill — banning on-site consumption, requiring a grow operation to be linked to a certain dispensary, and the 18-month moratorium on opening new dispensaries — would make it harder for patients to get their medicine. He added that allowing cities to ban dispensaries could force seriously ill patients to have to take the bus to get their medicine in another town.
“We have some significant patient concerns, but at the same time, we are dedicated to working with the legislature to make this happen,” he said.
Not all of the medical marijuana activists at Wednesday’s press conference shared Vicente’s conciliatory tone. One man interrupted the proceedings by shouting to Romer, who was left to defend the measure alone after Massy decided to attend a committee hearing instead of the press conference, that the bill would force medical marijuana users and sellers back underground. Fellow activist Julia Anderson of Patients Choice of Colorado, a medical marijuana dispensary, said after the press conference that the bill would leave patients without their medicine while also putting dispensaries out of business.
“I feel that this is really unfair and will create a very bad situation,” she said.
But Romer called the bill “common sense rules that will basically get control of an industry that’s blossomed up very quickly on us.” He argued that the bill would allow people in the medical marijuana community to “go home and sleep at night” knowing that the state has gotten the so-called “Wild West industry” under control.
“Our job is to make tough choices and our job is to basically put forth a set of ground rules,” he said.
Ballot initiative
Vicente’s Sensible Colorado today is filing his own statewide ballot initiative to regulate medical marijuana. The initiative would amend the Colorado Constitution to require a uniform licensing system for both medical marijuana dispensaries and growers.The initiative also calls for licensing fees and security requirements.
“State-licensed medical marijuana patients need storefront dispensaries in the same way that other sick Coloradans need pharmacies,” he said in a statement. “Medical marijuana patients will not go without medicine in Colorado.” Vicente needs more than 75,000 signatures by July in order for the initiative to qualify for the November 2010 ballot. He is unveiling the initiative today at the Capitol at 11 a.m.

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

Marijuana Bill

State lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a bill that would make major changes to Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry, allowing retail-style dispensaries to remain open but forcing them to reorganize as licensed, nonprofit “health centers.” The bill, which had yet to be formally introduced late Wednesday, drew at-first- glance skepticism from members of law enforcement and the pro-cannabis community.

Democratic Denver state Rep. Mark Ferrandino has been leading the charge to to rein in the payday loan industry. In 2008, he introduced legislation that he said was weakened through amendments and ultimately failed to pass. He told the Colorado Independent that he has been working with consumer advocacy groups to develop a stronger bill this year. He said he was considering writing it as a referendum and submitting it to the public for vote on the November ballot in order to circumvent the powerful payday industry lobby. “I am up against a very strong lobbying core. They have a lot of money and a lot of influence down here. They have the ability to take any bill that is moving forward and shape it to their own interests and really stop any real reform. I want to make sure I have my ducks in a row before I go ahead on this,” he said.