Audio By Carbonatix
Independent Journalism in Denver Needs You
We need to raise $25,000 by August 9 to support the reporting our community depends on. Reader support keeps us independent and is playing a larger role in funding local journalism and shaping what comes next. If you believe independent local journalism matters, make a contribution today.
Yesterday I received a very special present in the mail from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: My medical marijuana registry ID card! Whoopee!
Here’s the rub: It took fourteen weeks from the time I applied for the card in August for it to arrive — much longer than I was told to expect. To be fair, the state’s health department has been inundated with medical marijuana ID applications. And, according to a newly updated CDPHE online notice, patients are currently receiving IDs within twelve to fourteen weeks of the department receiving their applications. So my card just made that revised cut-off.
The holdup actually works to a patient’s advantage.
Because of the lengthy application-process delay, most dispensaries have been accepting a patient’s medical marijuana doctor’s recommendation until he gets his official ID. And when that card finally arrives, the expiration date is one year after its issue date, not the date of the application. In my case, that means that my August 2009 medical marijuana application will give me access to more than fifteen months total of legalized weed.
Talk about a license to ill.
