Pubdate: Sat, 03 Jan 2015
Source: Bradenton Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2015 Bradenton Herald
Contact: http://www.bradenton.com/submit-letter/
Website: http://www.bradenton.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58
Author: Kristen Wyatt, Associated Pres

COLORADO TO DEBATE ROLE OF MEDICAL POT IN 2015

DENVER - Just as Colorado is settling in for a second year of
recreational marijuana sales, state lawmakers have some big decisions
to make about its older cousin, the medical marijuana market.

The state's medical-pot regulations are due for automatic renewal in
2015. That means that all the rules about growing, processing and
selling medical pot are open to change.

Colorado's 2010 marijuana regulations were the template for the rules
that now govern the recreational market. But there are some important
distinctions between the two, and Colorado's Legislature will have to
consider whether the medical system needs some changes.

The biggest fight will likely be how to squeeze more taxes out of
medical pot.

Lawmakers from both parties, along with large for-profit marijuana
producers, complain that wide holes in Colorado's medical marijuana
framework have led to a still-thriving unregulated market for pot.

Some caregivers grow large quantities of untaxed pot, with none of the
seed-to-sale tracking required of commercial growing operations.

Officials predicted that Colorado's medical patients would stop paying
annual fees for so-called "red cards" and join the recreational market
once dispensaries opened to all over 21.

That hasn't happened, and taxes are the likely culprit. Medical pot is
subject only to Colorado's statewide sales tax, 2.9 percent. That's
about one-tenth of the taxes levied on recreational pot.

The tax differential has helped create a patient base that has grown,
not shrunk.

Colorado's medical marijuana registry has grown from 107,000 people in
late 2012 to about 116,000 this year. Pot shops have sold a greater
volume of medical marijuana than recreational marijuana products.

"There's enough of a price differential between recreational and
medical to offer people an advantage" to pay $15 a year to stay on the
medical registry, said Dr. Larry Wolk, Colorado's chief medical officer.

But lawmakers can't raise medical pot taxes without going back to
voters. Instead, they may try to winnow the medical patient pool and
drive patients to the recreational market.

One proposal would require more scrutiny of the doctors who recommend
marijuana for the most common ailment on the registry - severe pain.

Another likely bill would concern caregivers. The state Department of
Regulated Agencies, which reviews expiring regulations, suggested in
October that lawmakers require caregivers to register where they're
growing pot.

The agency found that a majority of caregivers now haven't registered
with the Health Department, many of them "because they do not want the
government to know of their cultivation."

But Colorado lawmakers have stumbled for years on efforts to crack
down on unregulated marijuana caregivers.

The state constitution guarantees people with certain medical
conditions to name a caregiver of their choice, with no mention of
taxes.

Patient advocates say to expect push-back on attempts to drive medical
patients to the recreational market. "This is nothing more than a
money grab," said Jason Warf, executive director of the Southern
Colorado Cannabis Council.
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