Pubdate: Sat, 26 Mar 2011
Source: Montana Standard (Butte, MT)
Copyright: 2011 Montana Standard
Contact:  http://www.mtstandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/609
Author: Charles S. Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

PANEL PASSES POT OVERHAUL THAT REPEALS CURRENT LAW

HELENA -- The Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday approved a bill 
that will repeal Montana's current medical marijuana law and replace 
it with a much stricter regulatory system designed to drastically 
reduce the number of cardholders and squeeze the profits out of the industry.

Senate Bill 423, by Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, cleared the 
committee by a 10-2 vote after some major amendments, including the 
repeal language, and will be heard by the full Senate on Monday. The 
current law would be repealed July 1, with the bill setting up a 
transition schedule.

The 49-page bill, written in less than a week by a three-member 
subcommittee, is on the legislative fast track, at least in the 
Senate. It received mixed reviews Friday.

Sen. Greg Hinkle, R-Thompson Falls, who voted against the bill, said, 
"I think we've gone way too fast on this thing."

Also opposing the bill was Sen. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman, who favors a repeal.

But Sen. Anders Blewett, D-Great Falls, said, "I think this bill 
moves us in the right direction. The number of cardholders is going 
to diminish dramatically. We need to do something about medical 
marijuana. The people of Montana want us to regulate it."

He said he fears if this bill fails to pass, voters will repeal the 
2004 voter-passed law, depriving those who need medical marijuana of 
access to the product.

Critics say the industry has reeled out of control since the fall of 
2009, with thousands of people, including many in their 20s, and 
needs to be reined in.

Defenders of the law have criticized lawmakers for repealing a law 
that 62 percent of the voters passed in 2004. Some people have 
testified that medical marijuana has helped treat a variety of 
maladies far better than narcotics prescribed by doctors and without 
the side effects.

 From the start of the subcommittee work, Essmann made it clear his 
goal is to reduce the number of people with cards authorizing them to 
use medical marijuana from the current 28,300 people to no more than 
2,000 by making it harder for people to get cards for severe and 
chronic pain. Some legislators believe that is where the current law 
is being abused the most.

To obtain a card for severe and chronic pain, patients would be 
required to have to an established professional relationship with a 
primary care physician that includes at least four visits in six 
months. A doctor who is a pain management specialist would have to 
review the patients' records.

The bill would ban storefront medical marijuana dispensaries and any 
forms of advertising or promotions for the product. It also seeks to 
squeeze any profits out of the system by requiring those growing the 
marijuana to sell it for what amounts to a cost basis or nonprofit basis only.

People authorized could grow their own restricted supply of marijuana 
or use a volunteer assistant. For those living in apartments, nursing 
homes or hospices who are forbidden to grow their own medical pot, 
they could obtain it from a nonprofit grower and have it delivered by 
a licensed courier, who would have to notify law enforcement 
officials prior to making deliveries.

It would make the Montana Public Service Commission the licensing 
agency under HB423.

However, PSC Chairman Bill Gallagher, R-Helena, testified earlier in 
the day that the commission, which regulates utilities and 
transportation companies, voted 5-0 to oppose being assigned as the 
licensing and regulatory agency for medical marijuana. The PSC 
already has has "a full plate of important utility cases," he said.

If HB423 passes the Senate, it could face a serious challenge in the 
House, where Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, favors repeal, not regulation.

At the hearing earlier in the day, Essmann told the committee, "The 
overarching goal of this bill is to repeal a system that is obviously 
broken, cleanse the system out and then restore the laws of the state 
of Montana in a fashion that will recognize the intent of Montana 
voters in 2004, while removing the air of legitimacy that the 
dispensaries intended to invoke."

His bill would excise the term "medical marijuana" from state laws 
and replace it with "therapeutic marijuana."

At the hearing, representatives of Attorney General Steve Bullock and 
associations representing county attorneys, sheriffs, police chiefs, 
Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, physicians and businesses generally 
endorsed the bill, or in some cases wanted some changes.

Among the qualified supporters was Tom Daubert, an author of the 2004 
initiative, who called it flawed and hastily written but added, "If 
it will allow just a handful of patients to live better than 
otherwise, it will have my support."

Opponents included representatives of Safe Community, Safe Kids, 
statewide group based in Billings that favors repealing the law altogether.

"We cannot support a middle ground," said the group's Susan Smith of 
Billings. "We are for repeal."

Other opponents included medical marijuana patients like Barb Trego.

"I'm afraid this bill would cause the black market to flourish," she 
said. "It would double the price and bring organized crime back in."

She added that this bill is nothing but "50 pages of wasted ink and 
wasted paper."

In other news Friday, the House Human Services Committee tabled House 
Bill 429, by Rep. Tom Berry, R-Roundup. At one time, it was thought 
to be a major tool for the Legislature to use to crack down on 
medical marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom