Colorado Conflict

Medicinal vs. Recreational

In medical cannabis news this month, the conviction of Dr. Joseph Montante, who made a questionable recommendation for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has been criticized by state auditors for its lack of oversight. The health department hasn’t referred any red card-issuing doctors to the state medical board since 2011, a move which has allowed many ethically questionable doctors who are clearly profit-motivated to stay in business. There is a chance, however, that the passage of Amendment 64, which will supplant this cottage industry and reduce the recreational users in the MMJ registry.

Speaking of the MMJ registry, a different state audit revealed that the CDPHE failed to comply with state law and keep patients’ names and information confidential. The audit exposed not only a total lack of security, but also direct violations of its patients confidentiality rights, the most egregious example occurring in 2012, when the department shared the information of 107 patients with law enforcement in a blatant breach of protocol. The continued regulatory headaches distract from the point of Amendment 20 in the first place, which is to help sick people.

The demonstrable benefits of medical marijuana for the seriously afflicted has swayed public opinion in a more enlightened direction. Even Chris Christie, the obstinate Republican Governor of New Jersey, has softened his opposition to medical cannabis in response to the heartrending story of the youngest medical cannabis patient, Vivian Wilson—a two-year-old girl suffering from Dravet syndrome. Cannabis is finally being taken seriously as an effective treatment, even by former naysayers like CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

In light of these encouraging developments, the imperative to distinguish medical cannabis from recreational cannabis grows ever more urgent. Medical cannabis and recreational cannabis not only require different regulatory models, they often require different chemical compositions. Many seriously afflicted patients require CBD-based products in an ingestible form because they provide natural pain relief, while smoking high THC content plant matter itself is usually for psychoactive pleasure. Without the economic incentive to provide recreational cannabis to patients with dubious medical claims, caregivers will have greater freedom to develop medicine to suit the highly individualized needs of their patients, and reasonable Coloradans who want to buy recreational cannabis without supporting cartels or fearing arrest will no longer have to clog up the MMJ registry, or fear that their information is being shared with police.

Amendment 64 inched a little closer to being a reality this month when Denver city council voted to approve 3.5% sales tax rate for retail cannabis, despite Mayor Michael Hancock’s suggestion that cannabis be taxed at 5% or more. While it’s reassuring for voters to know that state legislators are hard at work trying to pioneer a workable legalization model, any and all efforts to fulfill the promise of Amendment 64 are hamstrung by the lingering issue of cannabis’ federal illegality. Until cannabis possession is decriminalized at a federal level, Colorado legislators and patients face tremendous uncertainty. Despite assurances from Attorney General Eric Holder, who commented last month that a federal response to legalization bills in Colorado and Washington was in its final stages of review, state officials remain fearful that they’re efforts could be trumped by a lawsuit from Justice Department. The real victims of the conflict between statewide cannabis legalization and federal prohibition, however, are Colorado patients.

Another unwanted side effect of the conflict between state and federal law is the widely acknowledged profiling of interstate drivers with Colorado license plates. In neighboring Kansas, where possessing less than an ounce can mean a prison sentence, more than half of all marijuana arrests, including felony drug trafficking, are Coloradans. Lawyers in both states advocate ditching your medicine before you cross state lines, which is bad news for any drivers who have to traverse the bleak expanses of the Kansan hellscape without the relief of cannabis.