New Rules for Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Colorado

September 04, 2010 (Press-News.org) According to The New York Times, 14 states have passed laws allowing marijuana use for medical purposes. Colorado passed its law in 2000 and since that time, the industry has been rapidly growing throughout the state. Recent amendments to the law, however, have set new restrictions on who may own these businesses and new requirements for the doctors prescribing the drug.

Stricter Licensing Requirements

In June, Governor Bill Ritter signed two laws that will change the way marijuana growers and distributors do business. Notably, the laws create stricter licensing requirements on owners and operators.

According to The Denver Post, people convicted of a felony will not be permitted to operate a dispensary, nor will people who have lived in Colorado for less than two years. Additionally, the dispensaries will be required to grow no less than 70 percent of the marijuana they sell. The Post notes that this will require marijuana wholesalers to close or partner with a dispensary.

The felony restriction is, perhaps, one of the more controversial measures. Advocates of medical marijuana, say that this will force many of the operations to shut down.

According to the Associated Press, statistics from the Drug Enforcement Agency show that 18 percent of medical marijuana business owners have been convicted of a felony. Those same statistics note that while, overall, 8 percent of adults in the state have a drug-related conviction, 28 percent of center owners have some sort of criminal drug history.

Enhanced Requirements for Physicians

The new law is also designed to prevent doctors from performing cursory examinations of patients. Doctors also cannot be paid by dispensaries for writing prescriptions. A 2009 report from The New York Times indicated that nearly 75 percent of the over 10,000 permits for medical marijuana came from only 15 doctors; nearly 25 percent of those permits came from one doctor alone.

Despite the new and stricter rules governing ownership, the state of Colorado pulled in $7 million in registration fees from 2,000 businesses seeking licenses to operate medical marijuana facilities in the first week of August.

Article provided by Fife, Mangnall & Mossinghoff PC
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