[420 Girl]

Colorado`s medical marijuana law was passed nine years ago, but some municipalities are still grappling with it as if it`s brand new.

As of June 30, there were more than 8,900 patients with a medical marijuana registry card, which makes it legal for them to grow small amounts, buy marijuana from certain providers, and to use it to treat various diagnosed ailments.

More than 800 Colorado doctors have signed marijuana forms for their patients. For most patients, close to 90 percent, marijuana is used to relieve severe, debilitating pain.

So you`d think we`d have the hang of this.

But no. There have been three pot convictions of patients on the registry. Physicians tell the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that the "inconstancies" in laws governing marijuana makes them reluctant to participate.

In Summit County, there are 111 patients who are on the registry (51 percent of the state`s marijuana patients live in the Denver metro area and Boulder.)

But this week, Dillon, Frisco, Silverthorne and Breckenridge put on hold any business licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries.

That puts the burden on patients to grow their own, but it`s not so easy: There aren`t clear laws on where the plants can be grown, and overzealous police and prosecutors make it even more difficult.

There are currently 879 legal users in Boulder County and 369 in Weld. Unlike Summit County, we have legal dispensaries here -- a group of men are on trial this week for robbing one on June 16. One of the men allegedly told his girlfriend "we robbed a weed bank" during a recorded jailhouse chat.

But using that "weed bank" is certainly easier for patients in Boulder County than growing their own. Last summer, local police seized pot that medical marijuana user Jason Lauve was growing in his Louisville home. The county district attorney`s office prosecuted Lauve for possessing too many plants. There was never any accusation that Lauve wasn`t the sole user, or that he was using it at all improperly.

Legalizing marijuana for all, regulating it like alcohol and taxing it like tobacco may be what`s best, here: A death knell to the organized crime, black market and goofball medical marijuana bank robbers. Like tobacco taxes, strategic increases in taxation could be used for health care.

It certainly would be the fastest route to clearing up the muddled confusion between medical marijuana laws and the criminal system.

In the meantime, district attorneys, police departments and municipalities need to come to terms with medical marijuana, their legal dispensaries -- and making sure that they operate as legitimate businesses -- and the thousands of patients who use it as part of their legal, compassionate health care.

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