Pubdate: Fri, 13 Apr 2012
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2012 The Billings Gazette
Contact: http://billingsgazette.com/app/contact/?contact=letter
Website: http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author: Charles S. Jiohnson

FEWER THAN 12,000 MEDICAL POT CARDHOLDERS IN STATE NOW

HELENA -- The number of registered marijuana cardholders in Montana
fell below 12,000 as of March 31 for the first time in two years.

A total of 11,993 cardholders had registered as of March 31 with the
program run by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

That's the fewest cardholders, formerly called patients, in Montana
since the 12,081 who registered as of March 31, 2010.

In addition, there were 421 medical marijuana providers, previously
called caregivers, registered with the state as of March 31. They are
legally authorized to grow and sell marijuana to licensed cardholders.
Those numbers plummeted after peaking at 4,848 in March 2011.

Federal raids of marijuana growers' businesses, beginning a year ago,
also have put a chill on the industry, growers have said.

The number of physicians who can recommend the use of medical
marijuana to cardholders also continues to drop. As of March 31, there
were 254 registered physicians, down from a peak of 365 as of June 30,
2011.

The number of medical marijuana cardholders in Montana peaked at
31,522 as of May 31, 2011, a month before a much more restrictive law
passed by the 2011 Legislature went into effect. Medical marijuana
cards are good for a year.

During the spring and summer of 2010, so-called "cannabis caravans"
traveled the state, signing up people by the hundreds, if not
thousands. People either briefly talked to a physician, often from out
of state, via the Internet, or in person before the doctor recommended
they get a medical pot card. A Billings Gazette reporter, who went
through the process for a story, received a card in eight minutes.

The state Board of Medical Examiners adopted a standard of care for
physicians later in 2011 that limited these practices, and the 2011
Legislature outlawed the caravans.

The number of medical marijuana cardholders tumbled rapidly since the
passage of the 2011 law, dropping below 20,000 in November 2010 and
continuing to fall since then.

The 2011 law made a number of changes, including requiring cardholders
and providers to be Montana residents, requiring people claiming
severe chronic pain to provide supporting proof of their condition or
see a second physician and requiring providers to submit fingerprints
for criminal history background checks to ensure they don't have past
felony convictions.

It also bans the use of marijuana in public and authorizes local
governments to regulate providers and to ban storefront businesses,
according to a summary by the Legislative Services Division.

Shortly after its passage, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association
and others sued and tried to get the law thrown out.

District Judge James Reynolds of Helena, in a ruling June 30, 2011,
the day before the new law became effective, temporarily blocked
several provisions from taking effect. One would have limited a
provider to three patients, while another would have prohibited
providers from being paid for marijuana or related products, the
legislative summary said.

Reynolds also blocked the ability of the state public health
department from conducting unauthorized inspections. He halted a
provision that would have triggered a Board of Medical Examiners
review of any physician who recommended medical pot for more than 25
patients in any 12-month period, according to the summary.

Both the state and the Cannabis Industry Association have appealed
portions of Reynolds' decision to the Montana Supreme Court.

Oral arguments, originally set for Bozeman on April 30, have been
rescheduled by the court for 9:30 a.m. on May 30 in Helena.

In addition, opponents of the 2011 law collected enough signatures to
put it on the November 2012 ballot as a referendum. Voters then will
decide whether to keep or reject the law.
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