About Medical Marijuana

Visiting Colorado

I am in Denver this weekend speaking at the five-year anniversary celebration for Sensible Colorado, a grassroots organization founded by Colorado professionals and parents to research, educate, and advocate for effective drug policy. Sensible Colorado has been instrumental in implementing the state’s medical cannabis law since voters adopted Amendment 20 in 2000.

Patients, advocates, and lawmakers there are grappling with many of the same issues that we have encountered here in California – how best to distribute medicine, prevent abuse, and enforce the law. In response to pressure from Sensible Colorado and other advocates, the Board of Health recently postponed a vote that would have limited primary caregivers to supplying medicine to only five patients each. That would have been a stumbling block for the state’s nascent dispensary system, which has grown tremendously in recent years.

I was encouraged to see thousands of people marching for cannabis and medical cannabis law reform when I last visited Denver for the Democratic National Convention in 2008. This kind of grassroots organizing bodes well for patients in the state. I encourage those in Colorado and across the nation to support Sensible Colorado and the important work they are doing.

Readers in Colorado are welcome to join us for the anniversary celebration at the Atlantis Community Center located at 201 S. Cherokee St., Denver 80223. The celebration will be on Saturday, May 23, from 6-9:00 PM, with an awards ceremony at 7:00 PM. Light hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served.  This is a free non-smoking event.

You can also visit Sensible Colorado online or call (720) 890-4247 for more information

Tags: board of health, cannabis law reform, caregivers, dispensary, grassroots campaign, medical cannabis