Colo. health board suspends medical marijuana rule - The Denver Post

Colo. health board suspends medical marijuana rule - The Denver Post
Colorado health officials on Tuesday temporarily revised rules governing medical marijuana in order to comply with a court decision that said a supplier must do more than give patients marijuana to qualify as a caregiver.
The rule change — and the scant public notice given to the meeting where the state Board of Health passed it unanimously — drew fire from lawyers who represent medical marijuana patients, growers and dispensary owners.
Last summer, the Board of Health defined "caregiver" as someone with "significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient," and then defined that responsibility as only providing the patient with medical marijuana.
The board removed that definition, intending to take up the issue on Dec. 16 at a public meeting.
Colorado Department of Public Health Executive Director Jim Martin said the Colorado Court of Appeals opinion released last week forced the board to take quick action.
"I don't believe this leaves the board any leeway," he said of the ruling made Friday in the case of Stacy Clendenin.

In 2006, Clendenin was charged with cultivation of marijuana in her Longmont home, which is a felony.
Clendenin argued that the marijuana she grew was distributed to authorized medical-marijuana patients through dispensaries. The court found that Clendenin needed to know the patients.

By changing the rule, the state Board of Health has given itself time to consider how to create new definitions that comply with the both the Constitutional Amendment that allows use of medical marijuana and the court ruling.

But it could force dispensaries and growers to offer other care as well, said attorney Warren Edson, who represents dispensaries and growers.

While many dispensaries offer other services to those buying their marijuana, it would be impossible for growers who supply the dispensaries to offer anything but the drug, said Edson.
The rule change exposes grow operations to criminal prosecution, he said.