MEDICAL-MARIJUANA BILL GETS SENATE OK WITH AMENDMENTS

A bill toughening regulations for medical-marijuana patients and
doctors won its first vote before the full state Senate on Friday, but
not before seeing two significant changes.

The bill would require that doctors recommending marijuana have a
more-involved relationship with the patients they recommend it to, and
it would bar medical-marijuana dispensaries from paying doctors to
write referrals. The measures are intended to stop assembly-line-style
abuse of the medical-marijuana system.

Amendments added to the bill Friday eliminated a requirement that
patients receive follow-up care from the doctor who wrote their
marijuana recommendation. State Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, said
doctors should offer follow-up care but that the state shouldn't
mandate patients be locked into a relationship with a doctor.

Another amendment will require patients between the ages of 18 and 21
to get a second recommendation before being allowed onto the state's
medical-marijuana registry.