Colorado-Medical-Marijuana-Blog

Although the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry started off in June 2011 posting strong numbers when it came to registered patients, the number of new registered patients began to drop as the year went on. By December, 2011 the registry had posted a nearly 50,000 patient decline. As the New Year began, numbers began to rise again and officials believe it is largely due to the drop in the registry fee from $90 to $35. Since December, approximately 12,800 patients have signed on to the registry. The majority of registry patients are men, at an average age of 42 and inclu8de 46 minors who have their registry card through a parent or guardian. Nearly 55% of all registered Colorado medical marijuana patients have a designated caregiver, which is a 2% drop from February of this year. The Registry also shows that approximately 500 patients were put on a six-month waiting list due to various reasons such as seeing a physician’s assistant instead of a doctor and the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry is expecting an increase in registered patients once that six-month period has been completed.

According to sources last year, the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry was in a severe slump, suffering from a radical drop in the amount of patients applying for a card. As of the end of January 2012, however, this slump seems to have turned around, posting an increase of nearly 3,000 patients. Most of the statistics remained the same though. The average patient age remained at 42, while women accounted for only 32% of the registry patients. The largest number comes from people registering someone else as their caregiver. There are currently at least 10,000 registered caregivers in the state of Colorado. Although the state experienced this rise in patients in January, they are still approximately 43,500 patients below the peak enrollment recorded in June 2011. Many patients have cited privacy concerns when it comes to renewing their cards, stating a dislike for the intrusion of their privacy regarding buying habits and quantities, while others had their applications denied and have been forced to wait six months before reapplying. The CDPHE stated that their primary focus during the next few months will be to process applications within the 35 day window rather than keeping the website updated due to the smaller number of people they currently have in employment.

Medical marijuana in Colorado is currently legal, made so by a voter-approved amendment to the state constitution. However, there are some who claim that the overall legalization of the drug could benefit the state in more ways that one. The biggest benefit is said to come in the form of lowering black market sales, most specifically to teens, by making marijuana more easily accessible. One theory is that by making the drug available, teens will not be pressed to seek out black market buying options, which tend to lead to the purchase of harder drugs such as cocaine.

In the Netherlands, marijuana was made available in coffee shops, lowering the tendency for teens to gravitate toward cocaine to one in one thousand. The rate among U.S. teens gravitating from marijuana to cocaine at the time of the study was 1.7%, more than five times as prevalent. This statistic is enough to give marijuana legalization further consideration.

Citizens who would like to submit in writing any comments on the proposed changes to the Colorado medical marijuana registry program are strongly encouraged to do so before May 15, 2009 in order to have those comments reviewed before the hearing date of June 20, 2009. Anyone who has previously submitted a comment is asked not to resubmit.

All comments that have been submitted since February 10, 2009 will be included in the review and any oral testimony will be kept to five minutes or less depending on the number of people planning to testify. New comment submissions can be sent by e-mail to cdphe.medicalmarijuanaregulations@state.co.us by May 15, 2009.

The use of medical marijuana in Colorado, while legal, still poses problems for people who have been recommended by doctors to use the drug to manage pain caused by accidents or long-term illnesses such as cancer or AIDS. Access to the drug remains difficult, since most users reside on the western slope and travel to dispensaries on the Front Range is hard for some who are too sick to travel or grow their own.

In 2000, Colorado voters passed an amendment to allow patients who were recommended by a doctor to possess less than two ounces or grow up to six plants to help with the management of pain. Although doctors are allowed to recommend patients to the State Health Department, they are not able to prescribe medical marijuana in Colorado. With over 5,000 registered medical marijuana users in the state, getting from the recommendation to the actual product has been a difficult process.

Medical marijuana in Colorado has found another roadblock. A young Brighton High School student and her boyfriend, who is not a Brighton High School student, were denied access into the Wings Over The Rockies Museum in Denver, where Brighton High’s prom was being held.

According to police officers on duty, there was a prominent marijuana smell present, although searching provided no results. Jason Schweinsberg, who was attending the prom with Brighton High student Sarah Heideman, states he is registered as a Colorado medical marijuana user to manage long-term pain caused by a car crash, but had not used the marijuana since early that morning. Although marijuana use in Colorado is illegal, medical marijuana use is legal for registered users.