HELENA -- The national drug czar's office has claimed immunity from a complaint asserting the agency and one of its officials violated Montana's campaign finance laws last year. The Marijuana Policy Project claimed the czar's office should have reported how much it spent to fight a Montana ballot measure legalizing marijuana for medical use. In a letter to state Political Practices Commissioner Gordon Higgins, a lawyer for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said the deputy director's visit to Montana last year and his comments against the initiative were part of his official duties, and he does not have to obey state campaign laws. [continues 343 words]
HELENA -- A national organization that successfully promoted a 2004 ballot measure legalizing marijuana for medical purposes claims the national drug czar's office violated Montana law by not filing reports on what it spent to fight the initiative. In a complaint filed with the state political practices commissioner Wednesday, the Marijuana Policy Project said the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and Scott Burns, deputy director, failed to report spending related to a visit Burns made to Montana last fall to voice opposition to Initiative 148. [continues 337 words]
HELENA -- Initiatives to more than double the taxes on most tobacco products and legalize marijuana for medical purposes qualified for the November ballot Friday. That brings to seven the number of initiatives and referendums that will go before voters in the fall general election. Initiative 149 calls for increasing the 70-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.70. The tax on chewing tobacco would jump from 35 cents to 85 cents an ounce, and the tax rate on other tobacco products would double from 25 percent to 50 percent of the wholesale price. [continues 365 words]
HELENA -- Initiatives to more than double the taxes on most tobacco products and legalize marijuana for medical purposes qualified for the November ballot Friday. That brings to seven the number of initiatives and referendums that will go before voters in the fall general election. Initiative 149 calls for increasing the 70-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.70. The tax on chewing tobacco would jump from 35 cents to 85 cents an ounce, and the tax rate on other tobacco products would double from 25 percent to [continues 369 words]
HELENA - Initiatives to more than double the taxes on most tobacco products and legalize marijuana for medical purposes qualified for the November ballot Friday. That brings to seven the number of initiatives and referendums that will go before voters in the fall general election. Initiative 149 calls for increasing the 70-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.70. The tax on chewing tobacco would jump from 35 cents to 85 cents an ounce, and the tax rate on other tobacco products would double from 25 percent to 50 percent of the wholesale price. [continues 405 words]
