Certification of Word Count: 9,564 words IN THE SUPREME COURT FOR THE STATE OF COLORADO 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 800 Denver, Colorado 80202 IN RE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGISLATION Attorney for Petitioners: Name: Andrew B. Reid Address: Springer and Steinberg, P.C. 1600 Broadway, Suite 1200 Denver, Colorado 80202 Phone Number: (303) 861-2800 FAX Number: (303) 832-7116 E-mail: areid@springer-and-steinberg.com Atty. Reg. No.: 25116 ACOURT USE ONLY A Case Number: 2011S a4 PETITION FOR RULE TO SHOW CAUSEPetitioners hereby submit this Petition for a Rule to Show Cause to the Attorney General of the State of Colorado pursuant to C.R.A.P, Rule 21: ISSUE I: ISSUE I: I. ISS' PRESENTED FOR REVIEW DOES THE COLORADO MEDICAL MARIJUANA. LEGISLATION VIOLATE PATIENTS’ RIGHTS TO THEIR MEDICATION AS SECURED BY THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION? DO THE INFORMATION DISCLOSURE, PROVISIONS OF THE COLORADO MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGISLATION VIOLATE PATIENTS’ RIGHTS TO PRIVACY AS SECURED BY THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION?Il. PETITIONERS Petitioner Patient Caregiver Rights Litigation Project (“PCRLP”) is a group of registered medical marijuana patients, primary care-givers, and physicians from Colorado with its purpose the reformation of the medical marijuana laws in Colorado. Petitioner Kathleen Chippi of Nederland, Colorado, a PCRLP member, is a qualifying medical marijuana patient and, until the enactment of House Bill 10- 1284), operated a medical marijuana dispensary in Nederland with a state-issued retail sales tax license for medical marijuana. She was also a primary care-giver for numerous patients. Upon the resolution of the issues raised in this petition, it is Ms. Chippi’s intent to reopen her dispensary and continue her caregiver services. Another PCRLP member is Lannette F., a registered medical marijuana patient living in Federal Heights, Colorado (Adams County). She is typical of many thousands of medical marijuana patients in Colorado. Her debilitating medical condition, diagnosed as severe pain due to fibromyalgia, diabetic ‘House Bill 10-1284 was codified in a number of different sections of the Colorado Code. To avoid confusion, this legislation will be referred to in this Petition in its collective original form as “H.B. 10-1284.”neuropathy, and myofacial trigger points, causes her to be home bound. She is also unable to cultivate her own medication and therefore has to employ care-givers in order to access her medication. Because of her condition, she arranged for her medication to be delivered to her by her care-givers. Due to House Bill 10-1284, her care-givers recently had to close their business’. On November 2, 2010, pursuant to House Bill 10-1284, Federal Heights where she resides voted to ban all medical marijuana dispensing, cultivation, and medication manufacturing businesses. She now has to look outside her own city for a new care-giver and source for the delivery of her medication. * Since the passage of House Bill 10-1284, only a fraction of the medical marijuana related businesses in some communities have continued in business due to its broad extension of the Colorado Department of Revenue into the business records and affairs of these businesses, raising significant issues under Article Il, §§ 7, 16, 18 and 25 of the Colorado Constitution and the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteen Amendments of the United States Constitution in addition to those under Amendment 20. See, e.g., Daily Camera, “Boulder medical marijuana shops struggle with laws” (November 6, 2010), http:/Avww.dailycamera.com/ ci_16544716.PCRLP member Kendra C. is a 20-year old student at the University of Colorado and is a qualified medical marijuana patient who suffers from fibromyalgia. Under H.B. 10-1284, due to her age she is not permitted to enter any medical marijuana dispensary and must depend upon care-givers for her medication. However, the legislation’s restrictions on care-givers (limiting care- givers to no more than 3 patients) caused her care-giver, who was 1 patient over the statutory limit, to drop her depriving her of her medication. Ms. C. testified before the State Legislature on the medical marijuana legislation’. PCRLP member Gary I., a qualified medical marijuana patient resident of Golden, Colorado, suffers from crushed vertebrae in his neck, compression factures in his lower back, and nausea from chemotherapy for his liver. Following the passage of H.B. 10-1284, its restrictions on care-givers forced his care-giver out of business. PCRLP member John E. is a 50-year old qualified medical marijuana patient living in Larimer County who suffers from degenerative disc disease, s/Clics/clics2010a/commsumm.nsf/ * hup://www.leg.state.co. b443962433b52fa787256e5100670a7 1/b91b213837dcc0c0872577190069¢4be? OpenDocument.tedicalopothy, two herniated discs in his lower back, failed back surgery, and severe insomnia due to chronic pain and discomfort. Use of medical marijuana for pain management has enabled him to cut down on his prescription of morphine, a far more potent and highly addictive narcotic. PCRLP member Scott S. is a qualified medical marijuana patient living in unincorporated Adams County from suffering severe spinal stenosis, nerve and muscle spasms, degenerative disc disease, radiculopathy in cervical and lumbar regions as well as flare ups with sciatica. His wife is his care-giver. Scott S. was a care-giver for another patient but had to cease following the passage of H.B. 10- 1284 because it bars patients with care-givers from serving as care-givers for other patients. PCRLP member Nick L. is a qualified medical marijuana patient and care- giver. He was associated with a medical marijuana dispensary in Loveland, Colorado, until the city voted in November, 2010, to ban medical marijuana businesses pursuant to H.B. 10-1284. PCRLP member Jason D. owns a medical marijuana products manufacturing business in unincorporated Mesa County, Colorado, which supplied free medicine to terminally ill patients. PCRLP members Randy and Suzanne S. own a medicalmarijuana dispensary in unincorporated Mesa County, Colorado. Their businesses ceased operation in November, 2010, following Mesa County’s vote to ban of medical marijuana businesses pursuant to H.B. 10-1284 leaving their patients and care-givers without access to their medication. Il. GROUNDS FOR THE ORIGINAL JURISDICTION A. Colorado Constitution, Article 18, Section 14 On November 7, 2000, approximately one million Colorado voters approved Amendment 20 as an initiated constitutional amendment. Colorado Constitution, Art. 18, § 14 (Appendix 1). Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws legalizing the use of medical marijuana and ballot measures were on the November 2010 ballots and legislation is pending in fourteen more states.* * Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. http://medicalmarijuana procon.org/. view.resource.php?resourceID=000881 &print=true . Ballot measures pending in Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, lowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, andAmendment 20 was clearly a compassionate measure designed to address the compelling medical need for improvement of the quality of life, and often saving and extension of life, of hundreds of thousands of patients in Colorado. It was a medical need unmet by any other medication and subject to the expert diagnosis and recommendation by Colorado physicians as the appropriate medication. So significant is this right that a patient’s access to medication has been viewed as a “human right” under international law. Alicia E. Yamin, Not Just a Tragedy: Access to Medications as a Right Under International Law, 21 Boston University International Law Journal 325 (2003). Here, we are solely concerned with the health, lives, and freedom or relief from debilitating pain and medical conditions of Colorado citizens. Amendment 20, now Section 14 of Article 18 of the Colorado Constitution, guarantees patients diagnosed by physicians as having a debilitating medical condition, and their primary care-givers, a constitutional right to engage in the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Id. “Use” includes the acquisition, possession, Wisconsin. USA Today, “Medical marijuana business is on fire” (April 20, 2010), http://www .usatoday.com/cleanprint/? 1288757868732.