DENVER -- An earache, $50, and eight minutes of a doctor's time was all that was needed to obtain a Medical Marijuana certificate from the state of Colorado.

A CALL7 investigation found people in medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries coaching potential customers on how to obtain a certificate from the state with something as simple as an earache.

It's angering some people who have a "Red Card" and benefit from the use of marijuana while battling cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and other serious health conditions.

Several people, with one of the aforementioned conditions and who have medical marijuana cards, contacted 7NEWS and said they are afraid that repeated abuse of Amendment 20 will result in stricter controls that will ultimately prevent them from legally obtaining marijuana.

Allan N. is one of those people. He told us he suffers from neuropathy.

Allan asked 7NEWS not to reveal his last name and said in a phone conversation, "I believe it's out of control [at some clinics] because doctors have their hands tied."

He explained that his primary care doctor believed medical marijuana would help his condition, but the doctor was afraid to sign for the "Red Card" fearing federal repercussions. He said he took his medical records to a medical marijuana clinic and ultimately secured a "Red Card."

Allan now believes the medical marijuana business in Colorado is booming because the fear of federal prosecution vanished with the election and recent statements of President Barack Obama, who said the federal government will not get involved in states where medical marijuana is legal.

He said, what's happening in Colorado, he believes is healthy civil disobedience.

Colorado voters passed Amendment 20 in 2000. It allowed for the use of medical marijuana for "debilitating medical conditions." But what is or is not "debilitating" is open to the interpretation of doctors.

That may explain the exploding growth of the medical marijuana industry in Colorado and why CALL7 hidden cameras found clinic waiting rooms packed with people looking to get a "Red Card."

"I brought a stack of medical papers and that was it. Within a half hour I had medical permit that said I could buy," said one man in a clinic waiting room. He explained to CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski how easy it was to get a card.

"Chronic pain," he said.

Kovaleski responded, "Just say I have chronic pain?"

"Chronic pain from an injury long ago. Headaches all the time. Wake up with headaches, go to bed with headaches," said the man.

Kovaleski then asked, "Just make it up?"

The man answered, "The headache is impossible to prove."

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issues medical marijuana certificates.

Health department officials told Kovaleski they issued about 10,000 cards in the first eight years of the program, but they expect to issue another 30,000 in about the next eight months.

More than a dozen boxes, each holding hundreds of potential applications, sit in the mail room in the health department, waiting to be processed.

The backlog leaves patients who truly benefit from medical marijuana waiting months to receive their card.

A 7NEWS employee entered a Denver area medical marijuana clinic with a hidden camera and told the clerk he had no medical problem or medical records.

"If you don't have anything, you can go next door to the chiropractor and see if he can give you some kind of medical records," the clinic worker said.

At another location, a 7NEWS employee received a different recommendation to help build the required medical history.

"You can even go to Wikipedia and look up symptoms of migraines and just read 'em off in front of the doctor. Just memorize them and say, 'Ah, it feels like my vision is just tunneling out and three or four times a week I wake up and it still hurts,'" the clinic worker said on hidden camera.

To further test the process, we sent a 7NEWS employee into a clinic with a real medical record that said he had, in the past, suffered an earache.

"In fact, the only medical record I showed them was for the earache," said the 7NEWS employee, who we are not identifying to maintain his anonymity for future assignments.

"You visit a licensed medical doctor, you tell him you have an earache, you want marijuana, did you get it?" Kovaleski asked.

"I did," the 7NEWS employee said.

"How long did that take?" asked Kovaleski.

"Eight minutes tops," was the reply.

"Did the doctor challenge you in any way? Was he critical? Did he question, 'You only have an ear infection and you want medical marijuana?'" asked Kovaleski.

"No. Never once."

In fact, after $50, and an eight minute exam, the doctor said the 7NEWS employee's ears looked clear, but also concluded the earache qualified as severe pain, and checked the corresponding box on the official state document.

"I would say that is grossly inappropriate," said CDPHE Executive Director, Jim Martin.

His department's records show 90 percent of the Colorado residents with a "Red Card" have qualified under the ambiguous category titled, "severe pain."

Martin said, "What concerns us is the growing number of young males, around 25, who seem to be suffering from severe pain."

"This doctor said our employee can have a medical marijuana certificate for an earache, and you can't stop it?" asked Kovaleski.

"No. Not today," said Martin.

Amendment 20 gave no oversight authority to the state health department, the state medical board, or the state attorney general over the issuing of medical marijuana certificates.

"You are the attorney general; do you have any power in this venue?" Kovaleski asked.

"Not much," Attorney General John Suthers said. "It shows [the process] is being abused, but no one should be surprised about that."

Because of the backlog with the state, the 7NEWS employee with the earache has not yet received his "Red Card." When it does arrive, it will be destroyed.