March 3, 2009
Face The Staff Report

The Colorado Board of Health has postponed a March 18 vote on whether to restrict the number of medical marijuana patients a registered caregiver can serve. The move comes after activists inundated the board with hundreds of protest e-mails and letters. A vote is now expected in June.

According to the board, the vote was delayed to help find a larger room to accommodate the large turnout expected at the meeting. Nearly 5,000 Coloradans are currently on the state’s medical marijuana registry.

“It appeared that the interest in this issue is quite large and we wanted to have a venue that was reasonable for the size of the crowd that we are expecting, particularly folks who may need ADA assistance,” said Ron Hyman, the state’s registrar of vital statistics. “We are looking for another venue large enough to handle a crowd. June is when we are looking at now. Because of the administrative procedures involved in changing the venue, we need to get a timely notice out to everybody about the change.”
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Associated Press – March 4, 2009 8:04 PM ET

DENVER (AP) – A rulemaking hearing on proposed changes to the state medical marijuana registry program is being postponed, likely until June.

The State Board of Health hearing was scheduled for March 18, but health officials said Wednesday that the board is now seeking a larger venue because of significant public interest in the issue.

Colorado law says patients under a doctor’s care who get a medical marijuana card can legally possess small amounts of the drug. As of the end of January, 5,051 patients had valid cards.

Proposed changes to the registry program include limiting primary caregivers to five marijuana patients and requiring notarized signatures on applications.

The public can submit written comments to the board until May 15.

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