makes it extremely difficult for a doctor to know if making a recommendation for an increased plant count will expose a patient to greater risk of being arrested, and for the patient to know if he or she is more or less likely to be arrested. It can come down to where you live and the level of tolerance of the district attorney.
In addition, House Bill 1284, which was passed in 2010 and regulates the medical marijuana industry, establishes that both the patient and his or her doctor waive their rights to medical confidentiality when claiming the affirmative defense, which means that your medical history will be open for review.
What does all of that mean in practical terms? First and foremost, it means that a doctor’ s recommendation for more plants does not protect you from prosecution. It means that where you live can impact your chances of being arrested, and if you are arrested and prosecuted for growing more than six plants, even with a doctor’ s recommendation for them, you will have to hire a lawyer, which can be very expensive.
And it means that you need to decide how confident you are that the doctor you paid the extra $ 150 to for that increased plant count recommendation will appear in court to help defend you, because HB 1284 also requires that“... the patient’ s physician shall certify the specific amounts in excess of two ounces that are necessary to address the patient’ s debilitating medical condition and why such amounts are necessary.”
You will probably also have to pay for expert witnesses to testify on your behalf and you still may not win if you appear in that first district attorney’ s court unless you have a lifethreatening medical condition like cancer, HIV / AIDS, Lou Gehrig’ s disease or possibly MS. And win or lose, you will have legal defense bills that may amount to many thousands of dollars.
One more rule of thumb is to always seek legal advice before engaging in any activities that might go beyond the narrow confines of the Constitution.
All in all, you need to bear in mind that a drug conviction can ruin not only your day, but your life and think twice before you ask for an increased plant count or grow more than six plants. Hundreds of Colorado patients have already been convicted and many more will be because they didn’ t understand what the law really says.
© Alan Shackelford, M. D. 2013
Alan Shackelford, M. D. is a graduate of the University of Heidelberg School of Medicine and trained at major teaching hospitals of the Harvard Medical School in internal medicine, nutritional medicine and hyperalimentation, and behavioral medicine. He is principle physician of Intermedical Consulting, LLC and Amarimed of Colorado, LLC. and can be contacted at Amarimed. com. thcmag. com 33