How the Senator overshoots his proposal and overlooks patients.

Romer’s proposal to regulate medical marijuana in Colorado is nothing short of a very sinister joke. Before I post some of the rules he proposes, from the actual bill, let me say a few words about it. As a medical marijuana patient with a qualifying disease (RA and a little thing called wastings, for those of you that don’t already know) I am appalled at the presumptive nature of this public official. I must agree that we need regulation in this industry, there are far too many criminal enterprises that are ripping people off and endangering the health and safety of hundreds of patients. I agree that some sort of regulation needs to occur and that should we refuse to accept it, we may lose the program all together. I am not the person to make these regulations, I am not a politician and I am not interested in becoming one. I am simply a patient, one of the (far-too) few of them that has a license for medical marijuana. It treats my illness like nothing else can and my doctors have praised it’s success. Chris Romer would essentially like to take this all away from me and make a difficult situation, even worse. Losing my ability to use medicinal marijuana to treat my symptoms, I would likely relapse into the incredibly painful and deadly world of narcotic pain relief. Wastings would once again steal every precious calorie and I, not being adequately treated by mainstream anti-emetics, would once again literally waste away to nothing. The pain of my immune system attacking my body would be far too much to handle. My depression would likely return, stealing the precious moments a mother has with her children. I literally will fight this to my death, because if it were to pass, that wouldn’t be far behind.

Here are a few of the top changes from this proposal.

• An individual who is permitted to use medical marijuana must have in his or her possession a registry identification card when possessing a usable form of marijuana. (Romer doesnt address the issue that the registry is swamped with patients and cannot return a card for 6-8 weeks after it is submitted. Patients with chronic illness will have to stop using for two months to wait on a piece of paper they’ve already paid for! )
• The bill creates a medical marijuana review board that will consider requests by nonveteran patients under 21 years of age who want to be registered medical marijuana patients. For a patient who is under 21 years of age to become a registered medical marijuana patient, a majority of the board must determine that the patient has a debilitating medical condition and could benefit from the use of medical marijuana. (You don’t decide your children’s health status, a legislative board will?)
• An Optometrist, Chiropractor, or physical therapist in this new legislation in CO would be allowed to caregive with Medical Marijuana for 20% of their patients. (more restrictions, less patient access)
• A primary caregiver will have to file with the State a patient plan for every patient under their care and record all transactions with them. (So much for the privacy of my medical records!)
• To obtain a growers license under proposed regulations, you must have the grow in an industrial or agricultural zone, and be under 500 plants.
• Also under new proposals, you must report to the CO med MJ license authority every week how many plants and what stages they are & harvest. (Dr. Green thumb doing paperwork? Good luck on that one.)
• Also if you want to grow of own a dispensary under proposed regs, you will have to be fingerprinted and submit background info to the FBI. (The FBI starts with the word FEDERAL. Those guys don’t like marijuana, remember?)
• It looks like you will not be allowed to be lent money from an institution and put your business up. (So… where are you supposed to get the cash?)
• Under the proposed regulations in CO Police Officers are forbidden in legislation to own and operate a dispensary, or grow Marijuana. (What about a police officer with a qualifying medical condition? Should it be so THEM vs. US?)
• You will not be allowed to own more than three dispensaries, under proposed CO regulations. (You can’t be involved in marijuana AND be a success! Not in America!)
• Dispensaries will only be allowed to be open from 8a-8p Mon thru Saturday. No Sunday. And NO smoking or using on site. (Sick people only need medication 6 days a week?)

Perhaps people don’t understand how helpful medicinal marijuana can be. I understand that Colorado is a bubble of acceptance and with the exception of a few uneducated individuals, most people here know that it is vital to survival for some of us. Please do not let this pass, please take the time to write Chris Romer and tell him that we need regulation, we do not need complete restriction. He has stated on other sites that he hasn’t received much by way of replies to his urging to be contacted by the public. This is appalling! How can we ever complain about laws if we do nothing to protect ourselves!? Let me urge you now, Senator Chris Romer needs to hear from you! If not for yourself, do it for me and for my children who will likely be without a mother, should such restrictions become law. Shame on you Chris Romer, patients in Colorado need more dispensaries where they can safely get the medication they need. “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man” and it’s further restriction is immoral!

Please, Tell me what you think.

I will GLADLY compile your comments into a letter and email Sen. Romer for you.

Special thanks to my good friend Tim, for the talking points of this proposal. You can and should follow him on facebook for all the latest Colorado-based marijuana news.

© 2009 – 2010, AntiSoccermom. All rights reserved to the original author unless stated otherwise.

Depending on who you ask, marijuana is either a natural medicine or a dangerously addictive substance that can and will ruin your life. The wide gap in public thinking has been generated by the hypocritical misinformation from our government and their reefer madness techniques. As marijuana becomes mainstream, we have discovered that the laws put in place around marijuana and its actual value in society have been increasingly ignored, thwarted and swept under the rug. You may not know that marijuana has been illegal for only a small portion of its lifespan, we now know that marijuana has been used for over 5,000 years, medicinally and recreationally but has been deemed illegal only for the past seventy years. We know that the US government holds patents for the medicinal use of marijuana and we also know that many of our former (and current) presidents have used marijuana at some point in their lifetime. If it’s good enough for our president, and good enough to hold patents on, why has the government kept marijuana illegal? Has prohibition failed us and more importantly, are we on the brink of marijuana legalization? Many people assume that marijuana was outlawed based on scientific research and studies when in reality it was a racially fueled attacked on Latin Americans and the black jazz musician community from Harry Anslinger himself. Marijuana was demonized and eventually outlawed on the basis that it “influenced Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.” The lies told by Anslinger and perpetuated with Reefer Madness sentiment are appalling to read today, but the same sentiments are what keep the laws already cooked, in place. Anslinger stated: “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.” “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” “…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.” “Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing” “You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.” “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.” All these statements from Anslinger were draped in racism and meant to terrify the populace away from marijuana. We now know the plant was outlawed on the basis of race. We also know now that race and a preference for jazz music does not dictate the effects of marijuana on a person. Harry J Anslinger was not running for a political office spouting bogus ideas about drugs, he was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics for all of America. Anslinger’s racially charged decisions have affected millions of lives since going in to effect, but as the information about marijuana increases, we are beginning to see that marijuana is not the demon we have been led to believe it is. The government has kept marijuana illegal for reasons that remain difficult to understand. Some say that it was in direct correlation with the Vietnam war. When protestors for peace were caught using marijuana, an idea was born. To be able to arrest (and thusly stop all protests against an unjust war) the government began turning an all too common recreational activity into a crime and arresting those people with strong feelings against the governments decisions. Reagan, speaking out against marijuana made a statement saying that marijuana causes people to sit around, read books and talk. This was apparently a dangerous activity for the government, when its people turn to educating themselves. Reagan went on to say in 1974 “marijuana leads to homosexuality and therefore, to aids” the scare tactics of his presidency and war against drugs are comical now, but at the time his words were taken as truth, a very scary leap from cause to effect. Mainstream media has picked up on the hypocritical nature of these laws and has exploited the deceivers behind them for what they are, liars and racists. What was once a dangerous substance has become a common medication to treat ailments from everyday depression to cancer and aids. Science is finally starting to catch up to the millions of marijuana users who have found relief from the plant and now we are closer to full legalization than ever. According to the United States DEA chief administrative law judge in a ruling issued on September 6th 1988, “Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” Despite his ruling, and his urging that marijuana be moved from a Schedule 1 to a schedule 2 substance on the basis of a 69 page scientific report, the government has ignored this declaration by their own judge, again for reasons unknown. Now, President Barack Obama has been urged to recognize marijuana for its medicinal uses and reschedule the drug more appropriately, but little has been done to right the wrongs of a failed war on drugs. The fear, generated by the movement to make marijuana illegal, realizes that once the government accepts the medicinal use of marijuana for sick people, there is no longer the argument that it is inappropriate for healthy people. Our government has ignored even their own science and needless suffering has been inflicted on millions of Americans who have benefited or could benefit from marijuana.

© 2009 – 2010, AntiSoccermom. All rights reserved to the original author unless stated otherwise.