Pubdate: Fri, 11 Feb 2011
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2011 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Kirk Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

IN MONTANA, A BID TO END MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

HELENA, Mont. - The Montana House of Representatives voted Thursday 
to repeal the state's six-year-old medical marijuana law.

The 63-to-37 vote, largely along party lines in the 
Republican-controlled chamber, pushed Montana to the front lines of a 
national debate about social policy, economics and health as medical 
marijuana use has surged in the 15 states and the District of 
Columbia that allow its use.

"We were duped," said the House speaker, Mike Milburn, a Republican 
and sponsor of the repeal bill, who said he thought that the 
arguments about medical use had been a pretext for encouraging 
recreational use and creating a path to full legalization. He said he 
feared gang drug wars in Montana's cities and debilitation of its youth.

"This bill says, Shut down everything - it's gone way too far," Mr. 
Milburn told the chamber before the vote.

The State Senate, also controlled by the Republicans, will also 
consider the measure, and House members will have an opportunity to 
vote on it again as early as Friday before sending it there. If 
passed by the Senate it would face an uncertain fate on the desk of 
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat.

Mr. Schweitzer has said he believes the laws need to be tightened, 
but he has not taken a position on repeal. His spokeswoman, Sarah 
Elliott, said in an e-mail, "The business has gotten out ahead of the 
regulatory environment, and we need to build some boundaries."

But in the voices of the lawmakers on Thursday, the weight and 
passion of the issue were evident.

"We tried prohibition," said Representative Diane Sands, a Democrat. 
"Marijuana has been in our community for years; it is not going 
away," she added. "We have to deal with that fact."

Other states and cities are also wrestling with the question of what 
medical marijuana is, or should be. New Mexico's new Republican 
governor, Susana Martinez, expressed interest in repeal this year. 
Colorado is formulating some of the most detailed rules in the nation 
for growing and selling. Lawmakers in New Jersey have jousted with 
the governor over regulation.

And although party line positions have defined the issue in Montana, 
with Republicans mostly lined up in favor of restriction or repeal, 
there is widespread agreement among legislators and residents that 
medical marijuana has become something very different than it was 
originally envisioned to be.

Sixty-two percent of voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 
a statewide referendum in 2004. But the real explosion of growth came 
only in the last year, after the federal Department of Justice said 
in late 2009 that medical marijuana would not be a law enforcement priority.

Since then, the numbers of patients have quadrupled to more than 
27,000 - in a state of only about 975,000 people - and millions of 
dollars have been invested in businesses that grow or supply the product.

Here in Helena, at least 16 other bills in addition to the repeal 
measure have been filed or drafted since the legislative session 
began last month, calling for everything from a marijuana tax to 
another voter referendum.

"I've lobbied every session since '81, and I've never seen an issue 
as fluid as this," said Tom Daubert, an advocate for medical 
marijuana and an author of the 2004 ballot measure. "It changes by 
the minute, by the hour, by the day."

But in a huge, mostly rural state where a libertarian, 
keep-government-off-my-back spirit runs deep, the debate is also 
different in temper and geography than in other states. Marijuana, 
many people here say, has intensified suspicions between the two 
Montanas that are zipped together by the Rocky Mountains - 
conservative ranching and agriculture country to the east, liberal 
college towns and tourist communities to the west.

The change in the pattern and scale of medical marijuana use across 
Montana has coincided with a seismic change in politics here, where 
Republicans surged from a 50-50 tie in the House before last 
November's election to a 68-to-32 majority now. Republicans have a 
28-to-22 majority in the Senate.

Several House members who spoke against repeal said the Legislature, 
by declining in past years to take up bills that would have regulated 
or controlled medical marijuana when its use was not so widespread, 
had only itself to blame.

"We had many years to regulate something that 62 percent of Montanans 
wanted, and we chose to do nothing," said Representative Pat Noonan, 
a Democrat. "Don't vote against the citizens."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom