Pubdate: Sun, 06 Jun 2010 Source: Great Falls Tribune (MT) Copyright: 2010 Great Falls Tribune Contact: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/customerservice/contactus.html Website: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2502 Author: Richard Ecke BAN WON'T SNUFF MEDICAL MARIJUANA TRANSACTIONS IN GREAT FALLS, SIDES SAY Marijuana businesses are banned in the Great Falls city limits, effective July 1, following a vote by the City Commission Tuesday night. But that doesn't mean medical marijuana transactions will disappear in the city limits, according to people on both sides of the debate. "We're seeing more patients than we have ever seen in Great Falls," said Jason Christ, executive director of the Missoula-based Montana Caregivers Network. "It makes them go back underground." Ben Forsyth, a Great Falls paint-store owner who has criticized the state medical marijuana law, acknowledged this week that legitimate medical marijuana caregivers and patients may struggle under the ban. "I think the honest, ethical caregivers are going to suffer," Forsyth said. "We've punished those people in a way." He also predicted that unethical marijuana caregivers will continue to sell the drug in the city, despite the ban. "They'll find ways to do it unobserved," Forsyth said. He added that it's difficult for police to get evidence to crack down on marijuana businesses without a state license or certificate that operate in the city. The previous moratorium on medical marijuana businesses was hard to enforce and a ban may be, too, Forsyth added. "If the law can't be enforced, I'm not sure the law is useful," he said. He said the solution is for the 2011 Legislature to make access to medical marijuana statewide "much, much tighter." "I think we can reduce the problem considerably," Forsyth said. His comments came before police raided and arrested two men near his paint store Thursday for allegedly selling marijuana from the Last Chance Healing shop without state approval. Great Falls City Attorney James Santoro said the ban begins in July, and city officials expect people to follow it. He added that law enforcement will be a presence. Tom Daubert, founder and director of Helena-based Parents and Families United, said Great Falls' ban will mean "at a minimum, temporary confusion, uncertainty and great fear, I would think, among patients and caregivers." He said some patients and caregivers who have operated legally under state law for years now face the taint of violating a misdemeanor city ordinance. "I think it's very short-sighted and initiates a whole host of new problems," Daubert said this week. Daubert added that he is optimistic that the 2011 Legislature may be able to successfully reform the state medical marijuana program. "I think there's a great deal of consensus," said Daubert, who has testified before an interim legislative health committee on the subject. The fact Great Falls' ban doesn't begin until July 1 does not mean commercial marijuana operations were allowed before then, Santoro and city Planning Director Michael Haynes said. No business licenses or safety inspection certificates have been issued to any medical marijuana business in Great Falls. Haynes said Great Falls sits in a better position than cities that already approved licenses for marijuana businesses. Billings approved 82 marijuana business licenses before approving a six-month moratorium May 11. The town of Cascade south of Great Falls has one marijuana business, but may move to revoke that permit at its June 9 meeting, when a final vote on a medical marijuana moratorium is scheduled. Great Falls commissioners Tuesday voted 3-2 to ban marijuana businesses in the city, rather than extend a moratorium through Feb. 2. Mayor Michael Winters and Commissioners Bob Jones and Bill Bronson said they were concerned about the effects of the state medical marijuana program on the community's young people. Commissioners Mary Jolley and Fred Burow opposed the ban. Burow compared the city's action to the prohibition of alcohol, a nationwide experiment that began 90 years ago and was later repealed. The Great Falls ordinance bans all "land uses that are in violation of federal, state or local law." Jolley said the ordinance does not specifically mention marijuana and was very broad. This spring's anti-medical marijuana backlash has some medical marijuana advocates on their heels. Part of the problem could be that marijuana has been illegal for so long that people are not used to the idea that it's legal for medical reasons under a 2004 state law. "It's a quantum shift in our thinking," Christ said. "We have to take time to work it out." Cascade County has 1,388 medical marijuana patients registered with the state, and 237 licensed marijuana caregivers. Statewide, 25 percent of patient cardholders are in the 21- to 30-year-old age group, leading critics to suggest that young people are obtaining the cards too easily. People in their 30s, 40s and 50s each make up between 20 and 23 percent of cardholders statewide. People in their 60s make up less than 7 percent of cardholders, and those age 71 and older number less than 150 -- a miniscule amount. Christ at first disputed state statistics that people in their 20s were the greatest users of medical marijuana. He said his organization sees mostly people in their 30s or older. Daubert acknowledged a strong backlash against marijuana in Montana communities this spring. He said Montanans were upset by traveling medical marijuana caravans organized by Christ and others "that run people through by the hundreds in a single day" to get their patient cards. Another problem is marijuana dispensaries that openly advertise their wares and seek new clients, which Daubert said the law prohibits. "I don't blame people for being upset," he said. Great Falls City Manager Greg Doyon called medical marijuana "a pretty difficult issue." "People can still access it and grow it," Doyon said. "As I understand it, if you're a patient you can access your own." Even so, caregivers seeking to sell marijuana to patients in the city limits will run afoul of the city's power to regulate businesses. After Tuesday's meeting, caregiver Pam Birchard worried aloud that if she paid a house call to a bedridden patient in Great Falls it would violate the city's ban on medical marijuana transactions in the city. She does not think such a patient would be able to meet her outside of the city limits. Christ said some caregivers have told him they will continue to provide marijuana to patients in Great Falls, despite the ban. Daubert, a grower and caregiver in Helena, said his business office is located outside Helena, which has had a consistent ban on medical marijuana to comply with federal law. He said Lewis and Clark County did not require him to obtain a business license to operate. Cascade County does not require those, either. "In the county, we don't issue business licenses," said Susan Conell, Cascade County's interim planning director. She added she was not aware of any state legal impediment to a certified caregiver and patient conducting business in the county, as long it was outside the Great Falls city limits. "That would be under the radar," Conell said. However, law enforcement could step in if the parties did not hold state medical marijuana cards. Cascade County officials previously said medical marijuana businesses could locate their shops in heavy industrial zones in the county. Conell said Joshua Schultz is seeking to establish a medical marijuana business north of Black Eagle in a heavy industrial zone, if he can obtain a lease from Mike Gregoire. Among others requirements, the structure would need approval by a state building inspector and the county Health Department for its septic system. "It's being processed," Conell said. - --------------------------- [sidebar] Quick look at medical marijuana in Great Falls and Cascade County Legal or illegal? An approved medical marijuana patient growing his or her own marijuana - -- legal under state law A medical marijuana caregiver selling marijuana to an approved patient - -- allowed under state law but illegal under a Great Falls ordinance that takes effect July 1; legal outside Great Falls city limits in Cascade County Operating a medical marijuana shop-- illegal within Great Falls city limits; legal outside Great Falls limits in heavy industrial zones of Cascade County if county and state approvals are given and heavy industrial land is available Business licenses -- not being issued by the city of Great Falls for medical marijuana businesses; Cascade County does not offer business licenses, but requires a location conformance permit, akin to a city building permit, to erect a building or facility in the county. Sources: Great Falls and Cascade County officials - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D