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ACTION ALERT: Protest Law Enforcement Access to Medical Marijuana PatientRegistryFor immediate release,*August 15, 2013SHARE THIS PAGE:http://www.CannabisTherapyInstitute.com*Medical Marijuana Registry Confidentiality Breached by Law Enforcement*CTI and PCRLP File Emergency Rules Petition with Board of Health{Denver} -- An investigation by the Patient Advocacy Project of theCannabis Therapy Institute (CTI) and the Patient and Caregiver RightsLitigation Project (PCRLP) has uncovered that the Colorado Department ofPublic Health and Environment (CDPHE) has been illegally sharingconfidential medical marijuana Registry data with law enforcement throughthe CCIC/NCIC national online criminal database, administered by theColorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). CTI and PCRLP have filed anEmergency Rules Petition with the Colorado Board of Health to stop thispractice, which they plan to discuss at the Board of Health's next meetingon*Aug. 21, 2013.AUDITOR'S REPORT: CDPHE PROVIDES TOO MUCH INFORMATION TO POLICEThe CTI/PCRLP investigation was triggered by a report released by theColorado Office of the State Auditor on*July 15, 2013*that first revealeddetails of a new online database that allows law enforcement direct accessto the confidential medical marijuana patient Registry.Relevant parts of the June 2013 Auditor's Report on the CDPHE start on Page59:http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/legal/colorado/audit/The Constitution requires the CDPHE to keep a confidential Registry ofmedical marijuana patients and states that law enforcement can only receiveinformation from the Registry if they have stopped or arrested someone whopresents them a with medical marijuana Registry ID card. Since the Registrywas created in 2001, law enforcement has never had direct access to theRegistry. CDPHE employees always handled all law enforcement inquiries, andthe Registry was always on a single computer in a locked room and was notaccessible through the Internet.The Auditor's Report states that the new "CCIC-Registry Online Database"went online in April 2013 and may be giving law enforcement too muchinformation on patients, such as the plant count and quantity of cannabis apatient is allowed to possess. The Auditor writes, "It is not clear thatPublic Health has constitutional authority to provide information aboutpatient plant and ounce counts through the Registry-CCIC interface."The Auditor also uncovered 15 reported confidentiality breach incidents,including an incident where 5400 caregiver names were "inappropriatelyprovided to the State Auditor." The caregivers whose confidentialinformation was breached were never notified.CTI/PCRLP EMERGENCY RULES PETITIONOn August 15, CTI and PCRLP filed a 10-page Emergency Rules Petition to theBoard of Health seeking to stop law enforcement from gaining direct accessto the Registry.* The Petition argues that any and all law enforcementaccess to the Registry is illegal. The Emergency Rules Petition providesfurther details of confidentiality breaches and states:*"Over 200,000 patients, former-patients and caregivers have had theirconfidential data compromised in unknown ways. The many documented leaks ofRegistry information reported by the Auditor constitute a substantialfailure of the CDPHE to protect the confidential Registry as required bythe Constitution. It is unclear what information was given to whom andwhen, or even how many copies of the Registry exist. Because of thesemassive failures, the Registry must be presumed to be breached in itsentirety. Even one breach of the registry is too many.""Patients can no longer trust the CDPHE to maintain the confidentialRegistry that they paid them to maintain. The current Registry must bedisabled, and an entirely new system must be devised to create a newRegistry that is truly confidential."CLICK HERE TO READ FULL PETITION:http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/legal/rules/boh/2013/rule.request.boh.2013-08-15.pdfCDPHE MISSING CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTSThe Auditor's Report also reveals many other areas where theconfidentiality of patients has been violated, including access by stateagencies and outside contractors to Registry data that the CDPHE cannotdirectly control. One of the entities that has full access to the Registryis an outside contractor operating the COHELP hotline, which is the state'smain BIO-TERRORISM hotline. However, according to the Auditor, 95% ofCOHELP calls concern the Medical Marijuana Registry. CDHPE has no contractwith COHELP and has no direct oversight. Because of this, the Auditorconcludes, "The medical marijuana program does not have control of the workperformance of COHELP staff."In addition, the Auditor stated that CDPHE was unable to provide signedconfidentiality statements of 30% of the people that they checked in theirrandom sample. A Colorado Open Records Request (CORA) from PCRLP revealedthat the CDPHE has confidentiality statements from only a fraction of thepeople who have had access to the Registry. To get the other missingconfidentiality agreements, the CDPHE directed PCRLP to contact thefollowing outside entities and private contractors: Express EmploymentProfessionals (a temp agency that the CDPHE hired to enter Registryapplications), Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration, RockyMountain Poison and Drug Center, and the Governor's Office of InformationTechnology (OIT).* This is more proof of the Auditor's concerns that theCDPHE does not have direct control over the people and entities that haveaccess to the Registry.PARALLEL DATABASE AND PARALLEL CONSTRUCTIONIn addition to the Auditor's report, the official Agreement between theCDPHE and CBI regarding "Law Enforcement Queries of the Medical MarijuanaRegistry Information" dated October 2012 (obtained through another CORArequest) provides more details on law enforcement access to patient data.CLICK HERE TO READ CBI/CDPHE AGREEMENT:http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/legal/rules/boh/2013/cbi.cdphe.registry.agreement.pdfThe CBI/CDPHE Agreement on page 3-4 states: "The CCIC transaction log ...records every inquiry made through CCIC as well as the provided response... The log's record of prior transactions is maintained for at least fiveyears and its access is restricted to CCIC support personnel at CBI only."This means the CBI is keeping all results of its queries to the Registry,including names of patients, in their own "parallel database". Since onlythe CBI can access this data, no one can determine how the CBI may use orabuse this confidential patient information.A recent Reuters' story uncovered the common police practice of "ParallelConstruction", where law enforcement will use unlawfully-obtained secrettips to begin investigations on people. There are no safeguards in theCBI/CDPHE Agreement preventing law enforcement from using confidentialRegistry information in their "parallel database" to begin investigationsinto people, and then use "parallel construction" to cover-up the originalsource of information.http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MARIJUANA USERSAll marijuana users, including patients, face discrimination in employment,housing, veteran's benefits, child custody, health insurance, automobileinsurance, organ transplants, firearm ownership, occupational licensing andin interactions with law enforcement. The main purpose of the Registry wasto allow patients to use medical marijuana in a confidential way. With allthe leaks of this private information reported by the Auditor, the Registrycan no longer be trusted to protect patient information, and the sanctityof the Registry may never be repaired.*WHAT YOU CAN DO*1) WRITE TO COLORADO BOARD OF HEALTHTell them that the CCIC-Registry Online Database must be immediatelydisabled and ask the Board to support the CTI/PCRLP Emergency Rules toprotect patient privacy.SAMPLE LETTERDear Board of Health members:This is a letter protesting the CDPHE's failure to maintain a confidentialMedical Marijuana Registry, as reported by the state Auditor. The CDPHE hasillegally set up an online computer database and made it available to lawenforcement without sufficient safeguards. I demand that law enforcementdirect access to the Registry be permanently disabled. I support theCTI/PCRLP Emergency Rules Petition (filed*Aug. 15, 2013) and urge you tohear comments on this petition at your public meeting on August 21.*EMAILSCut and paste and send to:*[email protected],[email protected],*[email protected],[email protected],*[email protected],[email protected],*[email protected] McGowan, Interim Executive Director, CDPHEEmail:*[email protected],*[email protected] of HealthEmail:*[email protected]*Medical Marijuana RegistryEmail:*[email protected]*Governor John HickenlooperEmail:*[email protected]. Pat Steadman (co-author of HB 1284)Email:*[email protected]: Cannabis Therapy [email protected]2) ATTEND PUBLIC HEARINGWednesday, August 21, 2013Board of Health Public MeetingColorado Department of Public Health and EnvironmentSabin-Cleere Conference Room4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 802469:00am: PROTEST by Patients of Registry Confidentiality Breaches - BringSigns9:45am: Signup for General Public CommentSignup to speak during general Public Comment. It is unclear at this pointif the Board will discuss the CTI/PCRLP Emergency Rules Petition. In orderto make sure patient concerns on violations of their privacy are heard atthis meeting, we must take the opportunity for public comment at thebeginning of the meeting during the open comment period.10:00am: General Public CommentThe Board President may limit comment time. Please be prepared to speakonly 2 minutes.11:00am: The CDHPE's Annual Report on the Medical Marijuana Registry byRegistry Director Ron Hyman was previously scheduled for this meeting. Thisis a "discussion" item, so there will be no opportunity for public commenton this item.3) SEND US YOUR STORYWe are requesting that any patient or caregiver, current or former, whobelieves he or she has been harmed in any way by breaches ofconfidentiality of the Registry to send us your story. Have you been pulledover, and the police knew you were a patient? Have you been denied firearmspermits because it was discovered you were a patient? Are you worried thatyour Registry information will be used against you?Also please contact us if you would be willing to be part of a class actionlawsuit concerning the violation of your constitutionally-protectedconfidentiality rights. The confidential information of over 200,000 activeand inactive people may have been breached, and there should be a legalrecourse for affected patients and caregivers.Send email to:*[email protected] the word "Lawsuit" inthe title.*DONATE TO CTI**Help us continue to pursue this issue. This research effort has taken manyhours of work, and there is much more work to be done. Please be generousso we may continue our efforts:http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/donate.html---Provided as a Public Service by the:Cannabis Therapy InstitutePhone:*877-420-4205Web:*http://www.CannabisTherapyInstitute.comEmail:*[email protected] you do not want to receive any more newsletters,*http://levellers.org/phplist/?p=unsubscribe&uid=4853a55db2756af9f77a5a29f431a1a4To update your preferences and to unsubscribe visithttp://levellers.org/phplist/?p=preferences&uid=4853a55db2756af9f77a5a29f431a1a4Forward a Message to Someonehttp://levellers.org/phplist/?p=forward&uid=4853a55db2756af9f77a5a29f431a1a4&mid=344--Powered by PHPlist,*www.phplist.com*--
