Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2011
Source: Montana Kaimin (U of MT Edu)
Copyright: 2011 Montana Kaimin
Contact:  http://www.montanakaimin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1387
Author: Joe Pavlish

MONTANA-BRAND POLITICS

There is just something about April 20 that makes me laugh -- out of
irony, not humor -- with all the people who lucked out in the last
half-dozen years as our legislators passed and changed Montana's
medical marijuana laws.

I'm not laughing about all of the sick old ladies who need to smoke
bongs to alleviate their glaucoma and I'm not laughing about all the
money that the industry undoubtedly has brought in by the legalization
of medical marijuana.

I'm laughing about all the kids you and I both know who smoked
illegally before the bill and smoke "legally" now that they have a
card. I'm not mad about it; in fact, I don't really care about the
actual issue. I mean, I've been around pot and it's not like a group
of guys eating Cheetos and giggling about their imaginary lightsaber
fight is really posing a threat to society.

I don't care about the issue; my problem is with how we deal with
issues. Every two years, a new group of respectable men and women from
across the state meet in Helena for a couple months -- so far, so good
- -- and they spend their entire stay at our state capital undoing
everything that the group before them did. Is this progress?

In 2004, 62 percent of Montanans voted for Initiative 148, which would
allow "certain patients with specific medical conditions to alleviate
their symptoms through the limited use of marijuana under medical
supervision," according to the Department of Public Health and Human
Services' website.

With democrats in control of the house for the majority of the next
six years, medical marijuana use skyrocketed. The Missoulian reported
that Montana now has nearly 30,000 marijuana cardholders.

Republicans took over the majority in the state Legislature in 2008,
and undoing the medical marijuana system has been at the top of many
of their to-do lists.

The Montana House of Representatives proposed a bill, HB 161, early in
the session, while the Senate has proposed a different bill in its
place: SB 423.

The Kaimin reported in the "Legislative roundup" that SB 423 would
require two physician recommendations, ban storefront sales, and
advertising could shift to a nonprofit system. Cards would still be
issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the Public
Service Commission, the state's regulatory agency for utilities, would
oversee "therapeutic marijuana." Caregivers and patients would each be
limited to one ounce and four mature plants.

Meanwhile, the governor vetoed HB 161 with a branding iron on the lawn
of the state Capitol. I did not make that up; check YouTube or
something; because that's where politics are at in our state.

I am not denying the progress of Montana's system for medical
marijuana, which, according to the 2004 vote, people do want. I
understand that we're not going to get things right the first time and
that amendments and a constantly evolving constitution is the American
way -- a way that I am very proud to be a part of.

What I am saying is that both sides need to come together to make sure
that we are all progressing together at the right pace. I don't know
that we were ready for a medical marijuana bill, or that we needed it
at all, but I know that it's out there now and that we should work
together to patch the holes. And we should remember that, as power
shifts in the Legislature, we should always be trying to move forward
in unity, even if that means we take more time to iron things out
instead of just trying to push as much agenda as possible in two years.

Recreational pot smokers, you have won for now. Don't rub it in.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.