BILLS DETAIL MED MARIJ USE

DENVER - The Colorado Legislature this year passed its first two
significant medical marijuana bills since voters legalized medical pot
in 2000.

Here is a look at the bills:

House Bill 1284 - Until this year, marijuana dispensaries operated in
a legal gray area because they weren't mentioned specifically in the
2000 voter-approved amendment.

HB 1284 puts the dispensaries on solid legal footing by granting them
state licenses. But it also imposes heavy fees and strict rules - so
strict that one of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver,
thinks it might put half the dispensaries out of business.

Dispensaries now have to have approval from their city or county, plus
a license from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

The revenue department will create a new license for dispensaries,
modeled on the licenses issued to liquor stores. The department also
will hire inspectors and auditors to make sure dispensaries are
complying with the law.

The bill requires dispensaries to:

Pay fees ranging from $7,500 to $18,000, depending on the number of
patients they serve.

Grow at least 70 percent of their own marijuana.

Submit employees and owners to criminal background
checks.

Also, the bill allows city councils, county commissions and local
voters to ban all dispensaries.

HB 1284 required dispensaries to apply for licenses from their local
governments by July 1 this year, and from the state by Aug. 1.

The state will issue the first licenses beginning July 1, 2011, when
the government's new medical marijuana division is scheduled to be up
and running. From now until next July, the state will not accept new
dispensary applications, to let regulators focus on the more than 800
permit applications they have received.

Dispensary owners were split on HB 1284. Some opposed it as too
onerous, but others banded together to lobby for it, in order to gain
legal recognition. Even the ones who supported it say parts of the
bill are unfair, especially the potential for a local ban.

Senate Bill 109 - This bill deals with the doctors who recommend
medical marijuana. Patients need a doctor's OK to join the medical
marijuana registry and get a card that entitles them to use marijuana
without breaking state law.

At one point last winter, state health department officials said just
five doctors were responsible for half the patients on the registry.

The bill requires doctors who recommend medical marijuana
to:

Keep records of their patients.

Have a "bona fide" relationship with patients and be available for
follow-up visits.

Offer no discounts to patients for using a certain
dispensary.

Do exams somewhere other than a dispensary.

SB 109 also gives the state health department the power to investigate
doctors suspected of writing marijuana recommendations to people who
don't need them.

Both bills passed on bipartisan votes.

The Legislature passed SB 109 on May 9 and HB 1284 on May 1. Gov. Bill
Ritter signed both bills June 7.

Both bills took effect as soon as Ritter signed them, although HB 1284
had a series of deadlines for dispensaries to meet throughout this
summer.