Pubdate: Sat, 03 Apr 2010
Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO)
Copyright: 2010 Cox Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.gjsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2084
Author: Charles Ashby

ATTORNEYS BEGIN TO SPECIALIZE IN MARIJUANA LAW

DENVER - Starting a new business requires more that  just an
entrepreneurial spirit; it mandates business  owners to know something
more than just the industry  they're in.

Starting a new business related to medical marijuana  also requires
some risks most business owners don't  have to worry about. That's
partly why there were  numerous attorneys on hand at the Colorado
Cannabis  Convention this weekend, a first-of-its-kind event in  the
state that attracted thousands of people.

"Nobody could have predicted any of this 10 years ago  when we passed
the amendment," said Denver attorney  Robert Corry, one of several
lawyers who are learning  to specialize in this new area of the law.
"The  government has taken notice of us, and they're trying  to
regulate this industry out of business."

The amendment Corry referred to is known among lawyers  as Article 18,
Section 14 of the Colorado Constitution.  That law came about in 2000
when voters approved  Amendment 20, which legalized the use of medical
  marijuana for persons suffering from debilitating  medical conditions.

For the first eight years the law was in place, medical  marijuana
patients happily went on their way getting  the needed referrals from
physicians that allowed them  or a designated caregiver to grow up to
six plants for  their personal use.

Then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced  last year that
the Justice Department no longer would  prosecute the handful of
dispensaries that started to  crop up in California and elsewhere in
the nation,  reversing policies of the Bush administration.

As a result, the entire landscape changed not only for  the medical
marijuana businesses, but also for the law.

Holder's announcement led to an explosion of  dispensaries around
Colorado. Only a handful of  attorneys were practiced enough in the
law to help  them, but that's now changing, Denver attorney Tae
Darnell said. Darnell dispenses legal advice to  dispensaries and
marijuana-growing operations, and he's  teaching other lawyers how to
as well.

"You have to remember that this still is against  federal law,"
Darnell said during a panel discussion at  the weekend convention.
"You have to tread carefully."

When dispensaries started to proliferate around Denver  and the state,
Darnell and his law partner, Drew  Gottlieb, started to get tons of
calls from  dispensaries asking about their legal rights. And  they're
not alone.

More than half a dozen attorneys on hand at the Denver  convention not
only are beginning to specialize in  marijuana law, but they're also
advocating for it.

With Corry's help, Denver criminal attorney Brian  Vicente started one
of many marijuana advocacy groups.  That group, Sensible Colorado, is
pushing for  legislation to regulate the industry in a way that
allows the free market, and not the government, to  decide which
dispensaries will survive and which will  go away.

Vicente said those groups are generally happy with the  direction the
regulation is headed in the Colorado  Legislature, but not everything
with it is hunky-dory.

He and Corry support provisions in House Bill 1284 that  would require
the dispensaries to be licensed with the  state, but they don't like
what would happen to smaller  operations, caregivers that would be
limited to five  patients each.

Limiting the number of places patients can get the  marijuana they
need not only would put some out of  business, but it would increase
the cost as well, the  two men said.

"The bottom line is: We need more dispensaries," Corry  said. "The
only way to reduce prices is to increase  supply."

That kind of legal and lobbying advice is crucial to  the marijuana
industry winning legitimacy, said Mark  Lerner, publisher of Kush
magazine, the main sponsor of  the convention.

As a result, Lerner said he's creating a new Colorado  Cannabis
Foundation and seeding it with $10,000 "to  help fund these advocacy
groups and these lawyers." 
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