Smoking in the Rockies

Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Registry

Ron Hyman, State Registrar

History

Amendment - November 2000 Statute – C.R.S. § 25-1.5-106 Regulation – 5 CCR 1006-2 July 2001 – Registry established May 2010 – Additional statutes to

license dispensaries and define MD-patient relationship

Key Players Patient – person who has a debilitating

medical condition Physician – doctor of medicine who

maintains, in good standing, a license to practice medicine issued in CO

Primary Care-giver – person, other than the patient and the patient’s physician, who is 18 years of age or older and has significant responsibility for managing the well being of a patient

Patient

Applies to the Department for registration with the program Supplies written documentation from a

physician showing diagnosis of a debilitating medical condition and a recommendation that the patient might benefit from the use of medical marijuana

Name, address, date of birth, SSN of patient Identifies primary care-giver, if the patient

has one

Debilitating Medical Conditions

Cancer Glaucoma HIV/AIDS Cachexia Severe Pain Severe Nausea Seizures Muscle Spasms

Primary Care-givers

Defined as a person 18 years of age or older – not a business/corporation

Significant responsibility Dispensaries

Proliferation New statute to license (Dept of Rev)

Confidentiality

Patients, primary care-givers and physicians all protected from identification by the Amendment

Law enforcement limited to seeking confirmation from the Department of registry identification cards presented to them by patients and primary care-givers

Protections of the Program Amendment affords patients and

primary care-givers the following rights in the criminal realm: If physician has diagnosed a patient with a

debilitating medical condition and recommended marijuana, patient and primary care-giver can raise an affirmative defense to criminal charges

If patient or primary care-giver are in lawful possession of a registry identification card, an exception from criminal laws exists (i.e. no charges filed)

Registrations – 2004 to 2010

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009* 2010*

# C

ard

s I

ssu

ed

*Projected

Registrations - 2009 by Month

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

Jan

Feb

Mar

AprMay Ju

nJu

lAug Se

pOct

Nov

*

Dec

*

# C

ard

s I

ssu

ed

*Projected

Mail Received by Month 2009-10

Conditions

Severe pain 26,650

Muscle spasms 8,907

Severe nausea 5,225

Seizures 619

Cancer 698

Cachexia 572

HIV/AIDS 252

Glaucoma 292

Gender and Age Group

Age Group Male Female

<25 2,813 762

25-34 6,138 1,655

35-44 4,403 1,303

45-54 3,297 1,732

55-64 2,887 1,251

65+ 1,994 838

Total 21,532 7,541

Typical Day

Mail – 1,000 pieces Good Applications – 600 Bad Applications – 200 Other - 200

Phone – 200 Email – 100 Verifications (law enforcement) - 20

Work Flow

Packet: App, MD, ID, $ Triage: Reject, New, Renewal, Change Money deposited Data entry/update Exceptions handling Card Issued Scanning/Filing

Staffing

Current – 3 perm, 10 temp

Added – 5 perm, 8 temp

Needed 60+ to keep up 120 to reduce backlog within six months

Revenue

Annual fee to patient - $90 Fees adjusted periodically based on

costs to operate program Fees retained by program

Except when the legislature takes

Authority to spend Indigent waiver

Growth

From a portion of an FTE to a full blown program with multiple units, supervisors, manager

Backlog – storage, lockbox Impact on service counter Constructed new office space Already looking into expansion space

Legal Issues

Lawsuits by advocate community Testifying in court cases Public hearings Legislative committees US Attorney Last year my legal bill was >$200K

Other Challenges

Staff morale Fraud Number and frequency of changes Maintaining confidentiality Verifications for law enforcement Federal law enforcement

Conclusion

A money-maker

Challenging customers

Politics