Projects

After hours of testimony regarding patient privacy by activists like you, the MMED listened. On Friday, the State Licensing Authority and the state Attorney General’s Office approved and published its final rules for commercial medical marijuana businesses. The approved rules do NOT include the most onerous big brother provisions which would have required all patient sales to be videotaped with the patient’s ID placed on a 12 x 12 square along with the patient’s medicine. These final rules will not go into effect until July 1st, 2011.

The Colorado House of Representatives initially approved a bill that could criminalize sober drivers for “driving under the influence.” HB 1261 would declare anyone with five nanograms of THC per milliliter of their whole blood guilty of driving under the influence — even if the person could prove they were actually not impaired! The House of Representatives sent this bill over to the Senate. Please call your Senator and ask him or her to amend this bill to give drivers a chance to prove their innocence, by changing the “per se” limit to a rebuttable presumption.

No one, including us, would argue that people should be allowed to drive while impaired (be it from alcohol, marijuana, prescription narcotics, or Benadryl), so we support legislation that would take those drivers off the roads. However, by making a hard and fast limit for THC, Colorado’s DUID law will unfairly target medical marijuana patients who could have a higher level of THC in their blood without being impaired.

Please call your senator and ask that this THC count only be used as a presumption of being impaired, not a per se limit.

Supporters of marijuana policy reform are coming together to produce a statewide ballot initiative that would end cannabis prohibition in Colorado in 2012.  No single organization or individual is heading the effort; rather, there is a wide variety of activists, organizations, businesses, professionals, and other stakeholders working together to create and pass the best law possible.
Sensible Colorado, along with SAFER and other allies and organizations, are working to engage everyone possible in the process.  We are soliciting input and feedback from the community, which we will bring to the table as an initiative is drafted by some of the most qualified attorneys and advocates from across Colorado and around the nation.

If you would like to take part in the process of putting together the best possible legalization initiative for 2012, please send an e-mail HERE.   Let us know what you do or do not want to see in the initiative, or just let us know if you have any ideas or thoughts on the process.  As you can imagine, we probably won’t be able to respond to every e-mail, but we assure you they will all be read and taken into consideration.

A few months ago Colorado passed a law allowing low-income medical marijuana patients to have access to tax-free medicine and a waiver of the annual $90 licensing fee.

Wednesday (10/20) the Colorado Board of Health will be voting to make it VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE* for anyone to qualify as a low-income patient.  Please sign a petition HERE and join Sensible Colorado and allies at Wednesday’s hearing to tell the Health Department to “Show some compassion and adopt an indigent standard that actually helps those in need.”

*Under the Health Department’s proposal the only people who would qualify would be over 65, blind, disabled (according to rigid SSI standards), or whose net income is less than $903 a month and on food assistance.

Event to Assist Indigent Patients

WHAT: Board of Health rulemaking hearing to establish an indigent patient program

WHEN: Wednesday, October 20 at 9:30am

WHERE: CDPHE Building A, first floor, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver 80246

WHO: Patients, caregivers, and supporters will have the opportunity to testify publicly

WHY: Encourage the Board to adopt an indigent program which will actually help people

Candidates Stance on Marijuana
See SAFER’s candidate survey HERE.

Municipalities Voting on Marijuana Issues

Counties: Alamosa, Broomfield, Conejos, Costilla, Custer, Douglas, El Paso (Contact: 719 213 3993 or HERE), Eagle (Contact: EMBA, 970-569-3701), Las Animas, Mesa (Contact: 970 270 8394, catcoughran@gmail.com), Moffat, Montrose, Otero, Park, and Washington.

Cities:   Aurora, Federal Heights, Jamestown, Broomfield,  Antonito, Sugar City, Paonia, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Minturn, Elizabeth,  Ramah, Fountain, Granby, Fraser, Hot Sulphur Springs, Town of Lake City, Loveland, Windsor (Contact: 970-222-5555, inharmonywellness@gmail.com ), De Beque, Dinosaur, Olathe, Hill Rose, La Junta, City of Ouray, Pueblo, Akron, and Otis.

Other Issues
California is currently voting to regulate marijuana for adults over 21 statewide.  Learn about the campaign HERE.

In Colorado, Prop. 102 seeks to fill the jails with mid-level drug offenders, by denying them reasonable bond.  Learn more HERE.