[420 Girl]

Co. - More than 100 people are packing the Old Supreme Court chamber at the Capitol Wednesday morning to testify as the first major bill attempting to regulate the medical marijuana industry is being heard by a Senate committee.

Sponsored by Sens. Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, Senate Bill 109 aims to create new rules related to standards for issuing registry identification cards, documentation for physicians who prescribe medical marijuana, and sanctions for physicians who violate the bill.

The bill creates a medical marijuana review board (board) that will consider requests by non-veteran patients under 21 years of age who want to be registered medical marijuana patients. For a patient who is under 21 years of age to become a registered medical marijuana patient, a majority of the board must determine that the patient has a debilitating medical condition and could benefit from the use of medical marijuana.

An amendment to be introduced Wednesday will also require anyone between the age of 18 and 21 seeking a medical marijuana card to provide referrals from two doctors, not just one.

The bill adds the medical marijuana program to the list of statutes that involve medical records.

Another bill, yet to be introduced, will aim to impose regulations on the dispensaries that sell medical marijuana.

Attorney General John Suthers and Ned Colange, Colorado's Chief Medical Examiner, testified in support of the bill.

Representing hundreds of medical marijuana users, attorney Robert Corry called the bill "an unprecedented assault on the doctor-patient privilege" that would, Corry said, "hold medical marijuana doctors to a higher standard than any other doctor.

"This would cause human suffering. The most sick and most poor would be disproportionately harmed by this bill," Corry said. "You're going to see the BME conducting witch hunts against medical marijuana providers."

But, at least one dispensary owner is supporting SB 109, which, he believes, stakes out a reasonable regulatory middle-ground.

"The doctors I employ use their sound medical judgment for the benefit of their patient and I think we need to be careful not to disrupt that relationship," said John Stanley, owner of the Center for Peace and Medicine in Denver.

The majority of patients testifying Wednesday oppose the bill and nearly all attempts to regulate the industry, some for budgetary reasons.

"Most indigent patients cannot afford to go outside their federal medical care to get a medical marijuana license," said William Shangelish, a veteran who receives all of his medical care through the VA. "It's just not in my budget. It just doesn't make sense that we're going to have to pay these fees. It's going to impact all the poor patients who are going to lose access to their medical cannabis."

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