Colorado voters approved Amendment 20 on November 7, 2000, which amends the state’s constitution to recognize the medical use of marijuana. The law took effect on
June 1, 2001 and establishes a confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients. Colorado’s Constitutional Amendment 20 authorizes the use of medical marijuana to alleviate certain debilitating medical conditions:
· Cancer
· Glaucoma
· HIV/AIDS positive
Or a medical condition or treatment that produces, for this patient, one or more of the following and which, in the physician’s professional opinion, may be alleviated by the medical use of marijuana:
· Cachexia
· Severe pain
· Severe nausea
· Seizures (including those characteristic of epilepsy)
· Persistent muscle spasms (including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis
The law removed state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by patients in lawful possession of a registry identification card with no more marijuana than is medically necessary to address a debilitating medical condition.
A patient's medical use of marijuana, within the following limits, is lawful:
· Possess no more than two ounces of a usable form of marijuana; and have
· No more than six marijuana plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants that are producing a usable form of marijuana
Amendment 20 states that no patient shall:
· Engage in the medical use of marijuana in a way that endangers the health or well-being of any person; or
· Engage in the medical use of marijuana in plain view of, or in a place open to, the general public. (Note: Any place other than a private residence is considered public).
Any property connected with medical use of marijuana shall not be harmed, neglected, injured, or destroyed while in the possession of state or local law enforcement officials and shall be returned immediately upon the determination of entitlement to the protection of this amendment.
The amendment also states that medical marijuana patient may designate a primary caregiver, 18 or older, who has significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient to engage or assist a patient in the medical use of marijuana. (Note: The Kind Room provides a legal caregiver service). "Medical use" means the acquisition, possession, production, use, or transportation of marijuana or paraphernalia related to the administration of such marijuana.
Click here for the full version of Amendment 20
