Pubdate: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT) Copyright: 2009 The Billings Gazette Contact: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515 Author: Matt Hagengruber Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) QUIET START FOR MEDICAL-MARIJUANA SITE Father And Son Open Billings' 1st Operation Green Cross of Montana has quietly operated out of a red brick building at 3733 Montana Ave. since April 20. But only in the past month or two, after a white sign with a green cross popped up in front of the store, has business taken off. Welcome to Billings' first medical-marijuana storefront. And opening a medical-marijuana business on 4/20, the date popularly associated with marijuana culture? "It just happened to be that day," said Doug Medina Jr., who runs Green Cross with his father, Doug Medina Sr. The long bank of windows facing Montana Avenue has been painted over, and the front door has a "private" sign on it. Visitors enter into a large room with a billiards table, a couch and an entertainment center with a television and a display showing off Doug Sr.'s billiards medals from the Big Sky State Games. An office area is in the back. It feels like a clubhouse, though it's not. Green Cross of Montana doesn't distribute medical marijuana to patients. Instead, it acts as a clearinghouse of information, the Medinas said. But people who sign up with the Medinas as patients receive their marijuana from another business owned by Doug Sr., they explain. Customers at Green Cross can come in and, for $25, the Green Cross staff will help them get in touch with an understanding doctor and then handle the state paperwork required to become a legal patient. At first, business was slow. But word-of-mouth advertising has led to a handful of people walking in every day, Doug Jr. said. "We figured Green Cross could help chronic-pain sufferers find medical solutions," Doug Jr. said. "I don't provide medicine at this location." There will likely be more places like this opening in Billings. The Medinas estimate that there are 44,000 potential medical-marijuana patients in Eastern Montana. Doug Sr. operates his private marijuana pharmacy at another location in town -- he doesn't want to say where - -- and plans to open another soon, possibly downtown. The use of medical marijuana has been legal in Montana since voters approved Initiative 148 in November 2004. The law allows people with chronic pain and other ailments to get a doctor's prescription for marijuana. With the doctor's signature, the patient applies for a medical-marijuana card from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. The card allows patients to possess an ounce of marijuana and up to six marijuana plants. But because many patients don't grow their own marijuana, they must turn to caregivers, who are also licensed by the state and can grow and possess marijuana on their patients' behalf. Both the Medinas are marijuana patients and caregivers, but they don't offer details on where their marijuana comes from, other than to say it is grown in Yellowstone County. Doug Jr. said that many of his patients have never tried marijuana before. He told of one man who came in to get marijuana for his dying wife. "He didn't even know what an eighth of an ounce of weed was," Doug Jr. said. Immediately, Doug Sr. leaned in and corrected his son. "It's medical marijuana. That's the right term," Doug Sr. said. The Medinas also work with other medical-marijuana businesses in the state. They recently chartered a bus for people to travel to a "weed university" in Bozeman, Doug Jr. said. There, they learned about state law and were able to meet with doctors. "I wish we had more help from our local community doctors," Doug Jr. said. But the appearance of businesses like Green Cross worries some in law enforcement. Billings Deputy Police Chief Tim O'Connell, who worked some major drug cases as a detective, said the medical-marijuana business is attractive for those already involved in the marijuana underworld. "It's the biggest convoluted mess and it's going to get worse before it gets better," he said. "Most of your caregivers -- not all -- are going to be from the criminal element. They know how to do this and it's very lucrative." In fact, Doug Medina Jr. is a convicted felon with a history of drug problems, according to court documents. He has felony convictions for theft, forgery and issuing a bad check. In 2000, Medina Jr. was arrested for selling methamphetamine, but that charge was dropped. He also was charged with felony drug possession, but those charges were dismissed, too. Court documents aren't clear why the charges were dismissed. Had Medina Jr. been convicted in the drug cases, he wouldn't be allowed to sell medical marijuana today. State law prohibits convicted drug felons from becoming medical-marijuana providers, but felons with nondrug convictions aren't prohibited, said Roy Kemp, deputy administrator in the Quality Assurance Bureau at the state DPHHS. Medina Jr. was arrested last month for violating his probation. He admitted to using meth and taking narcotic pain medication prescribed to someone else. When probation officers searched Medina's apartment on Nov. 19, they found $500 in cash in his pocket, seven marijuana plants growing under a light, pipes and a bong and a Cheech and Chong movie playing on his TV. The officers had to prop open the apartment door because of the overwhelming smell of marijuana, according to the report. "The apartment was disheveled and it was observed that several issues of High Times magazine was on the living room floor, there were three loaves of marijuana bread product in the freezer along with a gallon jug of frozen marijuana tea," probation officer Candice Reinschmidt wrote in a Nov. 25 report. "It is disheartening to see that the defendant is the acting administrator of the Green Cross in Montana (medical marijuana resource center) and is noncompliant with the law. In essence, the whole of the apartment appeared dedicated to a pot culture mentality." There are other medical-marijuana caregivers in Billings, including some who are working on opening storefronts. Mark Higgins, a Heights resident who ran for the City Council, recently filed a business license for a location in the Heights. He is waiting to sign a lease. Statewide, there are nearly 4,600 medical-marijuana patients and more than 1,400 caregivers, according to the DPHHS. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D