cannabis_female_flowers_close-upMonday was a long, strange day for Colorado’s Board of Health, as members met on the Auraria campus to ponder possibly restricting the number of patients that medical marijuana suppliers can help.

A large contingent demanded the board drop the matter, and in the end the board did just that. People like Damien LaGoy, an HIV and Hepatitis C patient who uses pot to ease nausea caused by other drugs he’s taking, told the board if the rules were changed, there might be nowhere to get his prescription legally filled: “Imagine what happens to me if all 100 pounds of me goes looking for marijuana on Colfax Avenue?” (via the Denver Daily News).

An estimated 500 people—nearly all proponents of medical marijuana, according to 9News—packed a campus auditorium for the day-long hearing that ended in a 6-3 vote against adopting the proposal. Colorado’s chief medical officer, Dr. Ned Calonge, was among the few to argue unsuccessfully for restrictions, saying the program is ripe for fraud and will “continue to grow out of control” without firmer rules, writes The Associated Press.

The board had tried to impose the limits without a hearing, INDenverTimes points out, but a judge required that users be heard.

Get mired in the madness with Westword, which blogged the action yesterday blow-by-blow.