The reworked version of a medical-marijuana-regulation bill walks back quite a few of the problems in the original draft.
Thank goodness.
House Bill 1043, pending in the state legislature, was a disaster as first introduced. It loosened restrictions on criminal backgrounds for dispensary owners. It also grandfathered existing dispensaries within buffer zones around schools.
We were shocked by what was in that first bill. Rep. Tom Massey, the bill’s sponsor, seemed to let the writing of the original version get away from him.
However, Massey, a Poncha Springs Republican, turned that ship around last week when he substituted a completely rewritten bill. Some — not all, but some — medical-marijuana advocates were not happy with the changes.
It’s interesting to see how the folks lumped in as medical-marijuana advocates are creating factions among themselves. Those who are truly interested in pursuing medical marijuana as a treatment, as opposed to those who are hoping for backdoor legalization, should be pleased with the revised bill.
It sets a reasonable way for doctors with restrictions on their licenses to petition the Colorado Medical Board for permission to recommend medical marijuana for patients.
As it stands, doctors with restricted licenses are prohibited from recommending medical marijuana. That was an understandable regulation, contained in a bill passed last year, when you consider the Wild West atmosphere that ensued prior to regulation.
Doctors who had been barred from writing prescriptions saw the medical- marijuana boom as a bonanza. It was common knowledge that all one had to do to get a medical-marijuana card was complain of chronic pain and fork over a few hundred dollars to one of these doctors and you’d be good to go.
However, some medical-marijuana proponents made the persuasive argument that last year’s legislation, which barred all doctors with any restriction, was draconian. Doctors with physical disabilities who have been restricted from some professional duties, for example, might very well be able to recommend medical marijuana.
Such a doctor would have to appeal to the Colorado Medical Board, which would consider the nature of the restriction and whether it relates to pain-management judgment or a doctor’s ability to diagnose a debilitating condition.
We think that’s a good compromise that will not unreasonably restrict the pool of doctors who can recommend medical marijuana.
The key to an efficient medical- marijuana regulatory scheme is to have rigorous rules that are not so constricting as to keep people in need from getting relief. It’s a work in progress, and we would not be surprised if this bill were not the last chapter in that book.
