News » Colorado Board of Health Public Health Hearing Wednesday – MMJ Advocates Rallying





The Colorado Board of Health is holding a public hearing on Wednesday, October 20, and medical marijuana proponents plan to be there to push for lower patient registration fees. Currently, fees in Colorado are set at $90 and patients want to lower that to $10.

The Cannabis Therapy Institute, the organization behind the public rally at the meeting, says that Colorado passed the law (Amendment 20) in 2000 with a $90 fee assuming costs for a few hundred registrations per year. Registrations are currently topping 100,000 per year.

The registration scheme has meant millions into the system’s coffers, which the state is moving to pillage (about $9 million worth) to help bolster the flagging state budget. The Cannabis Therapy Institute wants to instead drop the cost to $10 per patient, which would equalize the costs associated with the registration and would help with the current backlog of indigent patients waiting for approval to get a free card.

Sensible Colorado has long fought to have an easier process for indigent patients, but the current system is extremely restrictive and Sensible’s efforts have been ignored by the Board of Health.

According to public documents, the registry in Colorado is currently funded at $9 million and has up to another $6 million in uncashed checks and payments from pending applications. The current rules only allow the registry’s funds to be used for registry costs, so an amendment to the original bill would be required for the state government to move funds to the General Fund of Colorado.

[source Cannabis Therapy Institute (via press release)]

Tags: board of health, Colorado, fees, medical, patient registry