Denver, CO: On Tuesday, July 3, Chief Denver District Court Judge Larry Naves issued a temporary injunction blocking the enforcement of a rule limiting to five the number of patients to whom a caregiver can provide medical marijuana under state law.
The ruling came in a case brought by a 47 year old man suffering from AIDS and hepatitis C. The patient, Denver resident David LaGoy, had asked the state to designate one Daniel J. Pope to serve as his medical marijuana caregiver. The state had refused to permit Pope to serve in this capacity because he was already the authorized caregiver for five other patients.
In 2000, voters approved Amendment 20, the Colorado medical marijuana law, which permitted authorized caregivers to grow and provide marijuana to authorized patients. Under the law, caregivers must have “significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient,” but no limit on the number of patients was included. The Colorado Department of Health subsequently adopted a rule limiting a caregiver to no more than five patients.
The judge said the rule was arbitrarily enacted without public input, putting patients at risk. The injunction applies to all medical marijuana patients and caregivers statewide.
This suit challenging the limitation on the number of patients a caregiver may serve was brought by NORML Legal Committee members Robert J. Corry and Sean McAllister, and Brian Vicente, the head of Sensible Colorado, a medical marijuana advocacy group in the state.
For additional information, contact Brian Vicente at Sensible Colorado at (720) 890-4247 or Keith Stroup, Esq., NORML Legal Counsel at (202) 483-5500.