Colo. Set to Track Medical Marijuana Purchases

Colorado will soon become the first state to monitor medical marijuana purchases in an effort to curb abuse and black-market reselling, the Associated Press reported Sept. 29.

Colorado is currently one of 14 U.S. states to allow the sale of marijuana for medical use, but the spread of dispensaries across the state has raised concerns about fraud. Under the current system, there is no way to track whether a single purchaser is buying marijuana from several sites and stockpiling it for illegal personal or commercial use.

Although details of the new system have not yet been released, plans included an electronic monitoring system that will alert the state to multiple purchases by a single buyer. Marijuana vendors will also be required to verify a buyer’s identity, either by video surveillance, fingerprint scanning, drivers license scanning, or electronic identification tags.

According to Matt Cook, senior director for medical marijuana enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue, the new measures are necessary to curtail potential abuses.

“You need to maintain the public confidence in what is going on, and the only way to do that is through these systems,” said Cook. “It's akin to the protections that are in place for pharmacies.”

Some supporters of medical marijuana are less sanguine about the new regulations, citing privacy issues and potential limits on use for people who require more of the drug to manage pain than the government might deem necessary.

“It seems like there could be an ulterior motive here,” said Randy James Martinez, a Commerce City resident who uses medical marijuana for diabetic pain. “Why do they need to keep such close track? Opiate abuse is far more prevalent and far more destructive than any marijuana use or abuse.”

Brian Vicente, a member of Sensible Colorado, a marijuana activist group, as well as a member of the rulemaking panel, said sellers and users alike are concerned about how the system will work. “Right now I'd say there's a lot of fear and a lot of confusion out there,” said Vicente.