DENVER | Colorado’s most controversial marijuana-related bill of the year is up for its first test in the Senate Thursday.

A measure to crack down on medical pot users faces a hearing. The bill would increase oversight on doctors who recommend marijuana for severe pain, the most common ailment on Colorado’s medical marijuana registry.

The bill would also increase oversight on caregivers. Those are people authorized to grow medical pot on behalf of patients.

Colorado wants to reduce the number of people using medical marijuana, which is taxed at a fraction of the rate of recreational marijuana.

But previous attempts to crack down on the medical use of pot have run into stiff opposition. Constitutional protections for medical pot users complicate crack-down efforts.

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Online:

Senate Bill 14: https://bit.ly/18mBhi8