MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL CHANGES DURING NEGOTIATIONS

DENVER - Lawmakers who want to regulate the state's growing medical
marijuana industry are now willing to let dispensaries advertise and
operate for profit, but they want to make sure the state can keep tabs
on the source of their products.

The overhauled regulations, up for their first vote at the Capitol on
Thursday, were worked out in negotiations with dispensaries and
patient advocates after the bill was introduced a month ago by Rep.
Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, and Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver.

The latest compromise, however, hasn't satisfied everyone.

Patient groups believe the bill goes too far in limiting the rights of
patients. Patients would give up their right to grow their own
marijuana if they purchase pot at a dispensary, and no one could
possess medical marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school or a daycare
center.

Brian Vicente, the executive director of Sensible Colorado, a medical
marijuana patients' group, said that could stop people from using
medical marijuana in their own homes.

"We're pretty upset that after months of negotiations, we've reached a
point where this bill wholesale sells patients out for the interests
of dispensaries and law enforcement," he said.

His group is preparing to ask voters to pass an alternative plan this
fall if they think lawmakers go too far.

Dispensaries fought back an attempt to require that they operate as
non-profits. But they're still concerned about a rule that would only
allow them to buy 25 percent of their medical marijuana from another
shop because not every dispensary owner wants to grow their own pot.

Nevertheless, dispensaries welcome a chance to be regulated and
prevent large household grows like the one busted by federal drug
agents in Highlands Ranch recently, said Matt Brown, a medical
marijuana patient and leader of a coalition of about 150 dispensaries
and over 1,000 patients.

The legitimacy that comes from regulation is exactly why the bill is
strongly opposed by those in law enforcement, including Attorney
General John Suthers.

Ted Tow, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys
Council, said voters only intended for there to be small scale grows
of marijuana by individuals or their care givers, not businesses, when
they passed the medical marijuana law in 2000.

"It's a significant step toward decriminalization," Tow
said.

Massey initially sided with law enforcement and intended to limit
people to growing marijuana for just a handful of people, a move that
would have shut down dispensaries. But he said he changed his mind
because he didn't think that would pass and because he didn't think
it's feasible for the growing number of medical marijuana patients to
grow their own.

He said that number could hit 100,000 by the time lawmakers adjourn in
May.

"It didn't make sense to have 100,000 people growing in their own
basement," he said.

The latest version of the bill will likely be changed during its
hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

If regulations are passed, the bill currently calls for a yearlong
moratorium on new dispensaries to give time for state officials to
implement the new regulatory system. All dispensaries, old and new,
would then have to get state and local licenses.

Voters could also vote to ban them in their municipality, but such
bans could only be proposed once every four years.