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For immediate release: August 24, 2010
Governor Wants to Steal
Patient Registry Fees to Balance Budget
Has Ritter Become Addicted to Cannabis Revenues?
{Denver) -- Just weeks after the state received an $8 million windfall
in application fees from medical marijuana retail centers, Colorado
Governor Bill Ritter wants more money from medical marijuana patients,
this time from a Constitutionally-protected patient Registry fee
fund.
Ritter announced on Monday that he plans to ask the legislature
to divert $9 million in medical marijuana patient fees from the
Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund to the state General Fund. However,
this action would violate both the Colorado Constitution and Colorado
Revised Statutes.
Article XVIII, Section 14 (3) (i) of the Colorado Constitution
(Colorado's Medical Marijuana Amendment) states that the medical
marijuana Registry fees shall only go to pay "any direct or
indirect administrative costs" of the program.
In addition, Colorado Revised Statute 25-1.5-106 (13) (a) states:
"All moneys credited to the medical marijuana program cash
fund and all interest derived from the deposit of such moneys that
are not expended during the fiscal year shall be retained in the
fund for future use and shall not be credited or transferred to
the general fund or any other fund."
This means the money that patients pay to the Registry cannot be
appropriated for other uses. It can only be used for administrative
costs to run the Registry.
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Call Governor Bill Ritter
Phone: (303) 866-2471
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"It's illegal, it's unconstitutional and it's wrong. These
are suffering patients. They don't have a lot of money, and the
state government should not be balancing their budget on their backs,"
said attorney Robert J. Corry, Jr. in an interview with KUSA-TV
in Denver.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=149605&catid=339
"Even if the Governor got the state legislature to approve
changing the statute to allow this transfer, as they did earlier
this year for the amount of $3 million, they still would not be
able to get around the Constitution," says Kathleen Chippi,
a Nederland medical marijuana patient. "Only a vote of the
people can amend the Constitution."
"This is just another example of the state persecuting cannabis
patients," says K. Evan Rude, a patient advocate from the American
Medical Marijuana Standards Association located in Boulder County.
"Governor Ritter built his career as a prosecutor and as Governor
putting people in jail for marijuana crimes. He has been vehemently
against medical marijuana for his entire career. But now he feels
it's OK to take money from the sick and dying people who use cannabis
as medicine to balance the state budget. He should be ashamed of
himself."
The Department of Public Health and Environment currently has a
backlog of over 70,000 patient applications, each containing a check
for $90.00 from a patient, totally more than $6 million in uncashed
checks. The average wait for the state to process the simple two-page
patient application is 7 to 9 months. The state should work on reducing
the backlog of patient applications and use the Registry fees to
help patients. Instead, the money will go into the General Fund,
and the funds may eventually be used to prosecute and imprison patients
and their physicians for medical marijuana "crimes".
Evan Dreyer, the Governor's spokesperson, issued a written statement
on the issue, "As with all cash-fund transfers, this specific
proposed transfer is contingent upon the legislature changing the
language in the statute so we can make the transfer to the general
fund. We did this with the Medical Marijuana Program Fund earlier
this year when the legislature was still in session (for $3 million).
The legislature's Joint Budget Committee will be asked to OK this
$9 million transfer later this year, and then the full legislature
will review it in January."
Dreyer could not explain why the Governor felt that he could override
the Constitutional clause that assures the money will only be used
for administrative costs of running the Registry program.
Please call Governor Ritter and your state representatives and
senators to protest the transfer of these funds out of the Registry.
This money is earmarked for the patients in the Constitution and
the Governor and legislature should not try to steal these funds.
CALL THE GOVERNOR
Governor Bill Ritter
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792
Phone: (303) 866-2471
Fax: (303) 866-2003
Email Form:
http://www.colorado.gov/apps/oit/governor/citizen/assistanceUtility/welcome.jsf
Send a copy of any correspondence to: info@cannabistherapyinstitute.com
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This press release was written by the Cannabis Therapy Institute's
Patient Advocacy Project.
Please donate to support our mission of patient advocacy and activism.
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