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Published byTimothy Hicks Modified over 9 years ago
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Smoking in the Rockies Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Registry Ron Hyman, State Registrar
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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
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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
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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
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Debilitating Medical Conditions Cancer Glaucoma HIV/AIDS Cachexia Severe Pain Severe Nausea Seizures Muscle Spasms
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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)
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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
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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)
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Registrations – 2004 to 2010 *Projected
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Registrations - 2009 by Month *Projected
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Mail Received by Month 2009-10
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Conditions Severe pain26,650 Muscle spasms8,907 Severe nausea5,225 Seizures619 Cancer698 Cachexia572 HIV/AIDS252 Glaucoma292
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Gender and Age Group Age GroupMaleFemale <252,813762 25-346,1381,655 35-444,4031,303 45-543,2971,732 55-642,8871,251 65+1,994838 Total21,5327,541
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Typical Day Mail – 1,000 pieces Good Applications – 600 Bad Applications – 200 Other - 200 Phone – 200 Email – 100 Verifications (law enforcement) - 20
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Work Flow Packet: App, MD, ID, $ Triage: Reject, New, Renewal, Change Money deposited Data entry/update Exceptions handling Card Issued Scanning/Filing
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Staffing Current – 3 perm, 10 temp Added – 5 perm, 8 temp Needed 60+ to keep up 120 to reduce backlog within six months
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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
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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
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Legal Issues Lawsuits by advocate community Testifying in court cases Public hearings Legislative committees US Attorney Last year my legal bill was >$200K
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Other Challenges Staff morale Fraud Number and frequency of changes Maintaining confidentiality Verifications for law enforcement Federal law enforcement
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Conclusion A money-maker Challenging customers Politics
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