[420 Girl]

Colorado, the state considered by many to be the epicenter of the national debate on medical marijuana, will hold testimony tomorrow afternoon on a sweeping bill to regulate the as-yet unfettered medical marijuana dispensary industry. House Bill 1284 seeks to impose rules on marijuana retailers similar to those in place for the alcohol industry. The bill calls for strict licensing requirements and would put in place restrictions on ownership and dispensary proximity to places such as schools and rehab facilities. The bill would bring a new level of state oversight that many say is sorely lacking. Others, however, see the proposal as onerous and overly restrictive.

At its heart, the bill sets up a structure for licensing on the local and state levels, laying out minimum requirements for dispensary operators, cultivation facilities and producers of edible marijuana products. Owners, employees and others associated with applying businesses would be require to have a largely clean criminal record. The bill also demands that they keep meticulous business records that can be inspected by state officials any time during normal business hours and specifies that "primary caregivers" can only care for five patients at a time.

Local municipalities would, moreover, be allowed to adopt stricter rules, including outright bans on such businesses.

Tuesday's hearing at the state capitol was prefaced by a prickly editorial in the Denver Post, wherein the authors describe the current state of affairs as a "farce" that goes far beyond the intentions of voters who approved Amendment 20 -- which allows medical marijuana use, but in frustratingly vague terms -- a decade ago. The editorial hails the bill's inclusion of an "escape hatch" for municipalities to outlaw dispensaries, but finds little else of use in a bill it describes as legitimizing "a massive pot distribution web few could have ever imagined."

Not surprisingly, there are others who see the bill as over-reaching. Mile High NORML and the Colorado Coalition for Patients and Caregivers plans a grassroots lobbying tour at the capitol to make their opposition known to state senators, who are now considering the bill after it passed the House on April 22.

The Cannabis Therapy Institute, a lobbying and outreach organization, calls the 72-page bill a "monstrosity" that will destroy the industry. In particular, it says that most dispensaries in the state will not be able to meet the bill's requirement that they cultivate 70 percent of the marijuana they sell, and it worries about the provision allowing Medical Marijuana Enforcement Investigators to inspect dispensaries without warrants or probable cause.

The hearing will take place tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Old Supreme Court Chambers at the state capitol with marijuana advocates engaging in a lobbying effort beforehand, meeting in the Capitol Building's cafeteria at 11 a.m.

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