Chris Romer Withdraws His MMJ Bill

Huffington Post

A Colorado resident since 1968, Janice suffers from osteoarthritis and chronic back pain. Until recently she had to take up to four oxycodone just to be able to make it through the day. Fortunately for her, she received a permit to use marijuana legally and is now able to live without debilitating pain and able to go days without taking the highly addictive oxycodone. Janice explained to me "the blessing comes with the knowledge that I can pick what works for me at the dispensary. I don't have to just take what I can get on the black market."

Sadly for Janice--and thousands of patients like her--access to sophisticated care is being jeopardized because both sides in this debate cannot seem to grasp the importance of finding common ground. Having tried my best to urge the medical marijuana community to educate the public on patient needs, we instead find ourselves in a situation in which the Wild West explosion of dispensaries and the outbreak of greed has become the public face of this debate. Public backlash has manifested across the state, including in friendly cities like Denver. From Lodo to Stapleton to West Denver, neighborhoods are now organizing and opposing all dispensaries. My own neighbors are up in arms with the 31 dispensaries now licensed in our zip code.

Without a patient face like Janice Beecher or an effective lobbying and education campaign by the MMJ community, I see more and more obstacles to any editorial, bi-partisan or even limited partisan support for a set of common sense rules.