Colorado Health Board to Consider Lowering Patient Fees, Other MMJ Changes

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Patients,  doctors, dispensary owners and other medical pot professionals in Colorado will get a chance to provide some input on several MMJ-related proposals at a public hearing on Wednesday.

The Colorado Board of Health will discuss whether to lower the fees patients must pay each year for medical marijuana cards from $90 currently to $35. Reducing the fees by 61 percent would benefit the entire industry, encouraging more patients to sign up for cards and giving existing ones a bit more cash in their pockets to spend on medical marijuana.

Officials will also consider a proposal tied to the program that waives the annual fee for certain low-income patients, as well as an initiative that covers physicians who recommend medical marijuana.

The rule-making hearing will start at around 10:30 a.m in the Sabin-Cleere Conference Room at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Building A.

The department’s official meeting notice lists a Nov. 2 deadline for written comments. But a release by the Cannabis Therapy Institute indicates that the public can submit comments until 9 a.m. tomorrow by emailing them to cdphe.edobohcomments_IndigenceFeesDoctorLic@state.co.us.