The long list of laws regulating Colorado's booming medical marijuana industry, which Governor Bill Ritter signed into law last year, are now the subject of a 58-page petition in the state Supreme Court. The basis of the challenge rests on patients' access to the cannabis, as well as privacy rights. As Attorney Andrew Reid states, "It's our position that the legislation, and now the regulations—although the regulations aren't mentioned in the petition—undermine the will of the people." Reid is arguing on behalf of the petitioners, including Kathleen Chippi, once the owner of the One Brown Mouse/Cannabis Healing Arts dispensary, who last year refused to sign the state-required medical-marijuana licensing agreement, describing it as "downright evil," writes Westword. 

A spokesman for Attorney General John Suthers tells Boulder Weekly the state will defend the laws (2010's House Bill 1284 and Senate Bill 109) if the Supreme Court takes up the case. The petition, available at CannabisLawsuits.com, is "necessary," Chippi says in a statement, "to stop the state's blatant attack on fundamental constitutional patient and caregiver rights." Meanwhile, in Boulder, a controversy has erupted after officials accidentally disclosed 60 marijuana cultivation sites in an online map, reports the Daily Camera.