COLORADO LAWMAKERS READY BILLS TO CURB PERMISSIVE MEDICAL-POT RULES

One bill would require medical-marijuana dispensaries to provide
other health services, limit where they can operate and require
additional screenings of younger patients.

Another would put the state in the pot-growing business and require
dispensaries to have licensed pharmacists on staff.

Both are initial volleys in an upcoming legislative battle to shape a
burgeoning industry that has flourished under one of the nation's
most permissive medical-pot laws.

The fight will pit those who favor regulating the estimated 100-plus
dispensaries now operating in Colorado against those who hope to
limit the number of patients one provider can serve.

The latter limitation on providers -- called caregivers -- is common
to most states with medical-marijuana laws and would wipe out or
seriously impact Colorado's dispensaries.

Facing a flood of new medical-pot buyers and sellers that has alarmed
some, state Sen. Chris Romer said he is optimistic the murky rules
give lawmakers a chance to craft a new model for the rest of the country.

Who's a "Caregiver"?

"To the law enforcement people who want to put a cap, they really
have to show me how that business model would work," said Romer,
D-Denver, who is sponsoring the bill requiring additional health
services at dispensaries. "I'm focusing more on a robust and strict
definition of 'caregiver.' "

That definition came under question last week, when the Colorado
Court of Appeals said caregivers must have a responsibility to
patients other than providing pot, but did not provide further guidance.

Colorado had 11,094 medical-marijuana users at last count, and the
state health department said last week it's now receiving an average
of 500 new registrations a day.

Romer Targets College-Age Users

Romer envisions wellness centers that provide some combination of
pot, physical therapy, yoga, massage, acupuncture or other similar
services. He's taking aim at college-age users by requiring those 25
or younger to submit medical records to a state review board. And he
hopes additional regulations -- like licensing, banning felons from
selling and advertising limitations -- will calm apprehension about
dispensaries cropping up in new communities.

State Sen. Al White, R-Hayden, wants the state Agriculture Department
and university researchers to exclusively grow pot in Colorado and to
put pharmacists in charge of dispensing marijuana.

The proceeds from selling to dispensaries would be split between
higher education and a rainy-day fund for the state.

"We're taking the spot of unsavory underground drug culture," White
said. "We can ensure reasonable and reliable potencies."

Republican Attorney General John Suthers has his own group of law
enforcement officials, local government representatives and medical
experts coming up with additional solutions to recommend to Gov. Bill Ritter.

Suthers describes the current situation as a "free for all" and
quickly points out the word "dispensary" isn't in the constitutional
amendment voters passed in 2000.

He expects to see plans to cap the number of people one caregiver can
serve and rules requiring a physical exam before doctors can
recommend pot for patients.

"We need to come up with a regulatory structure that isn't an
invitation to lie and cheat and use the guise of a medical-marijuana
patient," he said.

Colorado lawmakers are beginning to draft rules just as the
dispensary model is becoming more popular.

Four other states permit the pot shops, including Maine, where voters
Tuesday approved the dispensary model.

But those states also have in place much tighter restrictions than
Colorado, barring felons from selling, requiring vetting and
licensing of new dispensaries and limiting sales by geographical
area, records from the Washington D.C.-based Medical Marijuana Project show.

New Mexico Limits Patients

In New Mexico, for example, only one dispensary has gained the
sanction of the state to sell to more than the four-patient limit,
according to the Project.

States are only now starting to draft medical-marijuana rules --
until recently left to local communities -- in the wake of the
federal government's announcement that it won't prosecute users in
states where the practice is legal, said Karmen Hanson, health care
policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"A lot of these programs are so new that they're still looking to
improve or create programs that work well," Hanson said. "There isn't
necessarily one way. They're all looking at each other."