Sent in by the cannabis therapy institute
For immediate release: May 5, 2010
HB1284 Passes Full House on Second Reading
A Report by the Cannabis Therapy Institute
Contact: Cannabis Therapy Institute
1-877-420-4205
{Denver} -- The Colorado state Senate today voted in favor of HB1284 by a voice vote, with what sounded like only a handful of dissenting votes. According to Senator Chris Romer (D-Denver), the bill's main sponsor, the bill will eliminate from 50% to 80% of the current 1,100 dispensaries in Colorado.
In a surprise vote, the Senate narrowly adopted Amendment 173 to the bill, proposed by Senator Josh Penry (R-Grand Junction), which would eliminate the sales tax on medical marijuana. Senator Penry pointed out that 95% of prescription medicines in the state are not subject to sales tax. Sen. Penry said it would be "inappropriate, crass and wrong" to take money from the sick and disabled people who use medical marijuana to help fund other state programs. Sen. Penry said, "This bill should not be a revenue bill."
Senator Romer said he did not support the amendment to strike the sales tax because "we're not at the point that we are treating this as medicine." Sen. Romer said that medical marijuana should be taxed "until we get evidenced-based medicine" and "until it's like other supplements."
Senator Penry countered that Senator Romer "can't say it's medicinal on one hand and then on the other say it's not medicinal."
The amendment was adopted by a vote of 18 to 17. Senator Romer, unable to accept defeat, promised that he would bring the amendment up for another vote at the Third (and final) Reading of the bill to see if he could get the full Senate to again approve creating a revenue stream off of the backs of sick and dying people.
HB1284 will now go to its final vote in the Senate, called the Third Reading. This has yet to be scheduled. The Third Reading will require a roll call vote, so the Senators will be forced to go on the record with their vote.
Senator Joyce Foster (D-Denver) unapologetically pointed out that the bill was not written for the patients, but rather for the police. "We're basing this on the public safety model, and not the medical model. If we were basing it on the medical model, it would be a completely different bill," Sen. Foster said.
"This bill seems like it was more about Chris Romer than about medical patients," says K. Evan Rude, patient advocate for the American Medical Marijuana Standards Association. "He didn't consult with any medical professionals or disability activists or patient advocate groups. He obviously had his own agenda going into this to make the medical marijuana program a police state that will be operated only by well-funded dispensaries with little care for the patients. The patients will now pay more for their medicine and have their access severely restricted. This bill is so restrictive that it is clearly a blatant violation of patient's
Constitutional rights."
The Cannabis Therapy Institute is urging the state to instead set up a Commission to study the issue to make sure the needs of the patient are foremost in any legislation and to make sure this complicated issue gets addressed properly.
CALL AND EMAIL
Click here to contact your state senators:
http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/advocacy/contact.colorado.state.legislature.html
READ THE BILL
Here is a link to the General Assembly Home Page. Look for House Bill 1284.
The versions keep changing, so we cannot provide a direct link.
http://www.leg.state.co.us/
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