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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, July 30, 2009 |
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State Health Department Updates Medical Marijuana Registry NumbersDENVER – With nearly 2,000 new applications being received monthly by the medical marijuana registry at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the registry this week updated its numbers. As of June 30, the department had received 8,918 applications from people who received authorizations by licensed physicians to be part of the registry. “We are concerned about the number of young men diagnosed with chronic severe debilitating pain, particularly the increasing numbers we are seeing in 2009,” said the state’s Chief Medical Officer Ned Calonge. “We are evaluating strategies that might allow us to assure that physicians documenting a diagnosis of chronic or severe pain are doing so within the standards of medical care. In the 12 months from July 2008 through June 2009, the state has issued registry cards to 1,792 males under age 30, of which 1,601 (89 percent) had the diagnosis of severe pain. These 1,601 young males represent 22 percent of all the applications during these 12 months, and this proportion is increasing (from 18 percent in the last six months of 2008 to 24 percent in the first six months of 2009). Also of note, during the last six months of 2008 there was an average of 70 applications per month for males under age 30 with severe pain, compared with 264 such applications in May 2009 and 364 such applications in June of this year. “This dramatic increase in an age group that is not expected to suffer from a chronic debilitating condition is concerning,” said Calonge. “Since July 2007, when a Denver District Court judge suspended a state policy limiting the number of medical marijuana patients a caregiver can see, the registry has experienced a dramatic increase in registrants,” said Calonge. The number has grown from 3,302 in July 2008 to 8,918 as of June 30, 2009, with most the current applications (4,282) coming in just the past three months (April-June 2009). Amendment 20, approved by Colorado voters in November 2000, authorized the use of marijuana to alleviate certain debilitating medical conditions: cancer; glaucoma; HIV/AIDS; cachexia; severe pain; severe nausea; seizures, including those that are characteristic of epilepsy; or persistent muscle spasms, including those that are characteristic of multiple sclerosis. Calonge said, “Following the state Board of Health’s July 20 decision not to limit the number of medical marijuana patients who can be served by a caregiver, we are evaluating strategies to help avoid potential abuse of the marijuana registry program.” The medical marijuana registry calculates and publishes statistics on the demographic breakdown of the people in the registry. Since the hearing, the department has completed additional analysis of the registry data base to better understand the source of the dramatic increase in the number of participants, which has more than doubled over just the past three months. Further assessment of the database also revealed that previously posted information about the average age of registrants, cited at the July 20 board meeting as 24 years of age, was in error. The correct average age is 41. “In February, the registry modified the computer programs that calculate these statistics to incorporate more efficient data-entry methods. We have since determined those modifications resulted in the error,” said Bob O’Doherty, division director of the department’s Center for Health and Environmental Information and Statistics. This corrected statistic, however, does not allay the department’s concerns about the dramatic increase in young male applicants, according to Calonge. ---30--- |
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