ROMER WANTS TO LICENSE MARIJUANA CAREGIVERS

DENVER - A state lawmaker wants Colorado regulators to consider
licensing medical marijuana caregivers.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, has been working on a bill that would
require medical marijuana dispensaries and growers to be licensed and
submit to criminal background checks. Now he says he wants the
individuals who supply the marijuana to also be licensed.

Romer plans to submit a request to the Department of Regulatory
Affairs on Friday asking for their opinion. By law, the agency has two
months to make a decision. If it agrees with Romer, caregiver licenses
could be included in the medical marijuana regulation bill he plans to
introduce during the new legislative session, which begins Wednesday.

Requiring caregivers to be licensed could eventually require them to
go through certification programs, although Romer acknowledges none
exist now. He said caregivers should be trained to make sure marijuana
contains no mold or pesticides and is mixed with no other drugs. They
also should be familiar with how different drugs could interact in
patients, he said.

"Caregiving should be a sophisticated medical skill," Romer
said.

Brian Vicente, executive director of the marijuana advocacy group
Sensible Colorado, opposes the idea.

Vicente said he's open to regulating businesses that have developed to
serve the growing number of medical marijuana patients. But he said
the 2000 law passed by voters didn't say that people providing
marijuana had to meet any requirements.

"Marijuana is the safest drug known to man. It's never caused an
overdose. It's never caused a death," he said.

The number of people asking to use medical marijuana, as well as the
number of dispensaries to serve, them have surged since the Obama
administration signaled it wouldn't crack down on medical marijuana
users and suppliers in the 14 states that allow it.

An estimated 30,000 people have submitted applications to get medical
marijuana cards in Colorado, but an updated count of how many have
been approved isn't available because of the high volume of
applications. The last official count was just over 14,000 at the end
of August, and the state health department says it's still taking
about three months to process applications.