Westword: Board Of Health Meeting on MMJ

Westword  (click here for the entire story)


The meeting began at 11:30 a.m., when board of health members began discussing a wording change, says Westword staffer Joel Warner, who was inside the hearing. Then they voted unanimously to do so.
But when they announced that they wouldn't be taking public comment, the meeting quickly devolved into a shouting match between attorney and medical marijuana advocate Rob Corry and Glenn Schlabs, the chairman of the Board of Health, who was not at the meeting, but on the phone via teleconference.
Corry eventually backed off when Schlabs told him he was out of order and police began to walk toward him. Corry, who was soon surrounded by TV cameras, eventually declared the entire proceeding illegal and told Schlabs he would see him in court.
The meeting adjourned at 11:38, but most of the crowd remained.
Stay tuned to the Latest Word for analysis from Warner this afternoon.
11:03 a.m. It's a wild scene right now inside the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment building, at 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, where the Colorado Board of Health has scheduled an "Emergency Rulemaking Hearing" to discuss -- and possibly eliminate -- its definition of "significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient."
Westword staffer Joel Warner reports by phone (WiFi is not working in the building) that the meeting was moved from a small room that could accommodate twenty people to a larger one with space for sixty to seventy. Still, there is a line out the door, which includes medical marijuana patients, dispensary owners and caregivers, and a number of angry people who want to be let in.
The meeting, which is also a teleconference, was originally scheduled for 10:30 a.m., but it has yet to start because of problems with the phone lines. Several Board of Health members aren't able to dial in.