MARCH TO GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE PROTESTS BILLS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A few dozen people gathered Saturday in Civic Center park to protest
recent legislation aimed at curtailing Colorado's growing
medical-marijuana industry.

With signs calling for a veto of House Bill 1284 and Senate Bill 109,
three dozen marchers tramped across town to the governor's home.

"My kid would be dead without medical marijuana," said Victoria Blum
through a bullhorn in front of the Governor's Residence at the
Boettcher Mansion. The legislation creates tighter regulations and
licensing requirements for the industry.

Suffering from a variety of neurological disorders, Blum's
16-year-old son began taking medical marijuana a little over a year
ago, she said.

"It has been no less than a miracle," Blum said, with the drug easing
her son's pain and allowing him to better function. The new marijuana
regulations would hinder her ability to get her son's medication, she said.

Finding a doctor to write a prescription for a minor and dealing with
her HMO - who called social services on her when she told them her
plan - is challenging enough, she said, and she wants no additional roadblocks.

Among the sign-wielding protesters, Jason Lauve voiced his feeling on
the new legislation.

"This is going to destroy me as a patient," Lauve said.

He worries the medical-marijuana prices will increase and
dispensaries will be run out of town, he said.

A ski slope collision in 2004 left Lauve with a broken back, he said,
and he relies on medical marijuana to keep functioning. In August
2009 a Boulder jury acquitted Lauve of charges he kept too much
medical marijuana in his home, he said. He had 34 ounces of the green
stuff when police raided his house, he said.