Marijuana petition denied by Board of Health

The Colorado Board of Health Wednesday denied the Cannabis Therapy Institute’s Petition for Emergency Rules to Protect Patient Privacy on the grounds that the issue did not constitute an emergency as defined in the state Administrative Procedure Act.

The Board of Health did agree to hold an informational meeting on the topic at the next Board of Health meeting on Feb. 16.

CTI’s proposed emergency rules would have prohibited the CDPHE from sharing the CDPHE Confidential Registry with any outside agencies. The rules also contain procedures to ensure confidentiality and generate “incident reports” if the Registry is breached. CTI’s petition came as a result of plans by the CDPHE to allow the Colorado Department of Revenue to replace the current CDPHE Confidential Registry with a database and surveillance system that some medical marijuana advocates believe would make confidentiality easier to breach.

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.