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CANNABIS HEALTH FAIR TO EDUCATE CU STUDENTS ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

University of Colorado students will have a chance to take "Medical
Marijuana 101" on Saturday, according to organizers of the Cannabis
Health Fair, a pro-pot event being held on campus.

The free event aims to educate students and Boulderites about the
state's booming medical-marijuana registry.

CU junior Andrew Orr, one of the event's organizers, broke his back a
few years ago playing receiver for the Darien High School football
team in his home state of Connecticut. But nobody -- not even Orr --
believed it.

"I didn't know I hurt it," Orr said. "I kept playing and it made it worse."

For more than two years, Orr was in pain. The 20-year-old had a
medicine cabinet full of pills: Percocet, Vicodin, Oxycontin, muscle
relaxers, sleeping pills. The regimen worried him.

"I think that the amount of damage the prescription drugs were doing
to me at such a young age, I couldn't imagine being on them for the
rest of my life," said Orr, who has since had back surgery.

"Marijuana is far safer and healthier, depending on your delivery method."

Orr said he has been a medical marijuana patient for more than a
year. Also a member of the CU chapter of the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, he said he now wants to help debunk
the myths about the state's medical-marijuana registry -- such as the
idea that it's expensive or time-consuming to get on, or that
employers and parents will be able to see a student's status.

Saturday's fair -- which will feature speakers including a
medical-marijuana attorney, a cannabis therapist and a doctor who has
recommended patients for the state registry -- should help, he said.

"We're going to try to get kids educated and make sure they know the
program before they have the cops knocking on their door," said Orr,
who is double majoring in film and history.

But the number of young people approved to use medical marijuana in
the past year has raised some red flags at the state Department of
Public Health and Environment, which maintains the registry.

From July 2008 to June 2009, the state issued registry cards to
1,792 males under 30, officials said. Of those, 1,601 were diagnosed
with "severe pain," one of eight qualifying conditions. Those 1,601
young males represented 22 percent of the applications the department
received during that year.

"We do have concerns about the appearance of the high number of young
males who've been diagnosed with chronic pain," said department
spokesman Mark Salley. "It makes us wonder about potential abuse of
the (constitutional) amendment" authorizing medical marijuana in Colorado.

But Orr and Laura Kriho, outreach director for the Nederland-based
Cannabis Therapy Institute, which is co-hosting the fair, don't see
it that way.

"Chronic pain knows no age limits," Kriho said.

They point to doctors such as Jade Dillon, of Westminster, as proof
that any suspected abuses of the more than 9,000-patient
medical-marijuana registry are not uniform -- or even widespread, they said.

Dillon, who will speak at the fair, said she's been recommending
patients to the registry for a couple of years. She's strict, she
said; if a patient's ailment isn't medically documented, it's a no-go.

"I have seen a lot of people try and come in and say, 'Oh, my aching
back. I don't have any records. I just put up with it,'" Dillon said.
"I say, 'I'm sorry, it's not going to happen.'"

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IF YOU GO

What: Cannabis Health Fair

When: 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Where: Eaton Humanities Building, room 1B50, University of Colorado
campus, Boulder

Cost: Free

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