The Colorado Legislature approved a resolution on Tuesday opposing any efforts to exempt seriously ill patients who use marijuana medically from criminal penalties. The measure — House Joint Resolution 1042 — further mandates the Legislature to reject any information provided to the general public demonstrating that marijuana has medical utility.
“This is an incredibly close-minded and mean-spirited resolution that fails to consider the scientific evidence and disregards the pain and suffering experienced by thousands of seriously ill patients who only find therapeutic relief from marijuana,” said NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. He noted that the state’s own nursing association supports legal access to medical marijuana.
“The Colorado Nurses’ Association recognize[s] the therapeutic use of cannabis [and] support[s] efforts to end federal policies which prohibit or unnecessarily restrict marijuana’s legal availability for legitimate health care uses,” the agency resolved in 1995. “Marijuana must be placed in a less restrictive Schedule and made available to patients who may benefit from its use.”
Ironically, the Legislature is a former supporter of the use of medical marijuana by the seriously ill. House Bill 1042, enacted in 1979, allowed qualified patients to use marijuana medically if they suffered from cancer or glaucoma. The legislature repealed the measure in 1995.
The Legislature’s latest action comes at the same time voters await the opportunity to decide whether to legalize marijuana for those patients who use it under the supervision of their physician. Petitioners Coloradans for Medical Rights are presently gathering signatures for an initiative to allow patients suffering from a “debilitating medical condition” and holding a state-issued identification card to legally possess up to two ounces of marijuana. Petitioners must collect approximately 55,000 signatures from registered voters by August 3 to place the proposal on the November ballot.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or Marty Chilcutt of Coloradans for Medical Rights @ (303) 861-4224. For a directory of medical organizations supporting legal access to medical marijuana, please contact Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.
