Dear Stoner: Is there a mechanism — like a process or a form — to remove one's name from the registry once the red card has expired? I've asked quite a few people, including a local marijuana attorney's office, and nobody seems to be able to give me a straight answer.
Apprehensive Allan
Dear AA: We pitched your question to the folks at the medical marijuana registry, who tell us that getting your name off of the active registry list is as easy as completing a Request to Surrender Registry Card and sending it in to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The form (mmr1007) is on the MMJ registry website. You can also call the MMJ registry and they'll mail you a copy. But all that does is change your status from active to inactive.
So apparently the answer to your question is no. According to Mark Salley, CDPHE spokesman, your name stays on the historical MMJ registry database indefinitely. Salley noted, however, that those records remain confidential, only accessible to law enforcement in very specific circumstances.
Dear Readers: Last week, we posted a reply to Lightweight, who said that all of the marijuana he was smoking these days was too strong — way stronger than the "good old pot" he puffed back in the day. While we suggested that he give some low-potency strains or smoke shake a try, others suggested online that he simply develop the tolerance he probably never had in the first place. Our favorite response came from grower and regular Westword commenter Monkey:
"I have thirty-, twenty-, and seventeen-year-old strains currently growing. Clones from clones with no degeneration so many incompetent growers speak of. I hate to tell you, Lightweight, but they are just as strong as the new-school mislabeled strains of today. It sounds like back in the day, you were smoking seeded, kilo pressed Mexican weed. But many others were smoking the same strains I grow today, and experienced the same potency even back in the '80s. My suggestion, for what it's worth: Break up a little reefer and mix it with tobacco, like the Europeans. You won't get as high, and it will still probably taste better than Mexican brick weed."
