PATIENTS INQUIRE ON MEDICAL POT

Nov. 9, 2000 - Ok, Medical Marijuana Is Legal. Now What?

From the halls of the state health department to the homes of cancer
patients, that question reverberated Wednesday, the day after Colorado
voters approved Amendment 20 by a margin of 53.6 to 46.4 percent.

Martin Chilcutt, one of the original proponents of legalizing medical
marijuana in Colorado, said he'd been getting calls Wednesday from patients
wanting to know what their next step should be.

Chilcutt tells them he envisions setting up cannabis cooperatives for
medical marijuana patients.

"I can't tell you exactly how it's going to operate at this point. But
we're going to control it very tightly."

They've worked in other states where medical marijuana is legal, he said.

One thing Chilcutt is sure he wants to do is help patients who can't afford
to buy marijuana. He said an ounce of marijuana can run anywhere from $100
to $400, depending on quality.

Meanwhile health department officials met Wednesday to figure out how to
implement the statewide patient registry spelled out in the amendment, and
how much that will cost.

Dr. Richard Hoffman, chief medical officer for the department, said
officials didn't have a cost estimate yet but expect to ask the legislature
for additional money.

The health department has at least one model to go by: Oregon.

That state's law, passed in 1998, is very similar to Colorado's.

Like Colorado's, Oregon's law allows patients to possess and grow their own
marijuana for medical purposes. And, as in Colorado, Oregon patients must
have recommendations from a doctor and must register in a state-operated
system, which gives them a card certifying that they have been approved to
use medical marijuana.

Oregon charges $150 for processing an application.

According to an Oregon health department Web site, 1,068 people have
registered to use medical marijuana there since the law passed. "Our
first-year review shows the system is working as it was intended," Dr.
Martin Wasserman, administrator of that state's health division, said in a
written statement. One place where there is no uncertainty about what the
law means is the U.S. Attorney's Office.

There, Tom Strickland, U.S. attorney for the district that includes
Colorado, is very clear: Marijuana is still illegal as far as federal law
is concerned.

"Any thought that last night's vote decriminalizes possession of marijuana
for medical purposes is inaccurate," Strickland said.

On the other hand, Strickland's comments make it seem unlikely that
chemotherapy patients will be led away in handcuffs.

"As a matter of policy, the U.S. Attorney's Office has a history of only
prosecuting larger cases involving distribution in larger amounts. We have
not prosecuted simple possession," Strickland said.

Despite the advent of Amend ment 20, "we anticipate following past
practices," he said.

That may make medical marijuana users relax a bit, but it doesn't help
those who sell them marijuana.

"There is no immunity for anyone who sells marijuana," even to a patient
approved to use it medically, said Mark Grueskin, a Denver attorney who
helped draft Colorado's law and Oregon's.

That is one reason why so-called cannabis clubs set up as medical marijuana
marketplaces in California, the first state to approve medical marijuana
use, in 1996, have run afoul of federal authorities.

A federal attempt to shut down those clubs is on appeal.