Colo. Senate Panel Votes to Tighten Regulation of Medical Marijuana

The Colorado Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 6-1 in favor of a bill that would require medical-marijuana patients to have a “bona-fide relationship” with a doctor in order to be able to use the drug for medical reasons, the Colorado Statesman reported Jan. 29.

Doctors would be required to conduct physical exams of medical-marijuana patients and provide followup treatment. Ned Calogne, of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said that five doctors in the state account for half of all medical-marijuana recommendations, including one doctor who issued 700 recommendations in one month.

The bill, which supporters said would bring needed oversight to the state’s medical-marijuana law, was strongly opposed by medical-marijuana advocates who said the rules would be costly and burdensome to patients, some of whom are indigent or disabled.