HELENA -- Some 85 percent of the inmates in the Montana women's prison are there, at least in part, because of methamphetamine. At a Missoula drug treatment center, 90 percent of the women who enter the program are dealing with a meth problem and nationwide, 50,000 people under the age of 21 have died from substance abuse since Sept. 2001, officials report. Montana needs to do something about these statistics, Gov. Judy Martz said Wednesday during a conference on the state's methamphetamine problem. [continues 466 words]
HELENA -- A visit from U.S. Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns Wednesday brought out a dozen protesters from around the state, who said his anti-marijuana message takes aim at Montana's sick and dying patients. Burns, who made a stop in Helena while on a multi-city Montana tour, spent most of his brief time talking against Initiative 148, a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot that would permit some patients to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. "I'm not here to tell everyone how to vote," Burns said. "But I am here to talk to you about the realities of marijuana." [continues 580 words]
HELENA - Low-income and ailing Montanans who are qualified to use medical marijuana are now eligible for financial help with the one-time $200 fee the state is charging patients to get on the medical marijuana registry. The Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, D.C., the main driver behind Montana's new medical marijuana law, has donated $2,000 to a financial assistance fund for low-income Montanans. The project is also seeking private donations to the fund. The new law was passed by voters on Nov. 2 and took effect Jan. 1. [continues 415 words]
HELENA -- Low-income and ailing Montanans who are qualified to use medical marijuana are now eligible for financial help with the one-time $200 fee the state is charging patients to get on the medical marijuana registry. The Marijuana Policy Project of Washington, D.C., the main driver behind Montana's new medical marijuana law, has donated $2,000 to a financial assistance fund for low-income Montanans. The project is also seeking private donations to buttress the fund. The new law was passed by voters on Nov. 2 and took effect Jan. 1. [continues 417 words]
HELENA - The state's launch of its new medical marijuana registry Tuesday drew criticism from one of the law's major supporters, who called the $200 registration fee "exorbitant." Robin Prosser of Missoula, who suffers from an immunosuppressive disorder, said she's appalled that the state is charging the chronically and terminally ill $200 to get on the medical marijuana registry. The new law protects registered patients and their caregivers from local and state prosecution, even though federal law prohibits possession and use of the drug. [continues 524 words]
HELENA -- The state's Tuesday launch of the new medical marijuana registry drew criticism from one of the law's major supporters, who called the $200 registration fee "exorbitant.'' Robin Prosser of Missoula, who is suffering from an immunosuppressive disorder, said she's appalled that the state is charging the chronically and terminally ill $200 to get on the medical marijuana registry. The new law protects registered patients and their caregivers from local and state prosecution, even though federal law prohibits possession and use of the drug. [continues 524 words]
HELENA - The state's Tuesday launch of the new medical marijuana registry drew criticism from one of the law's major supporters, who called the $200 registration fee "exorbitant." Robin Prosser of Missoula, who is suffering from an immunosuppressive disorder, said she's appalled that the state is charging the chronically and terminally ill $200 to get on the medical marijuana registry. The new law protects registered patients and their caregivers from local and state prosecution, even though federal law prohibits possession and use of the drug. [continues 452 words]
HELENA - The state of Montana's launch of a new medical marijuana registry Tuesday drew criticism from one of the law's major supporters, who called the $200 registration fee "exorbitant." Robin Prosser of Missoula, who is suffering from an immunosuppressive disorder, said she's appalled that the state is charging the chronically and terminally ill $200 to get on the medical marijuana registry. The new law protects registered patients and their caregivers from local and state prosecution, even though federal law prohibits possession and use of the drug. [continues 524 words]
HELENA - Montanans suffering from certain medical conditions may be able to legally smoke marijuana to ease their symptoms come January 1. The Medical Marijuana Act passed by a 63 to 37 percent margin Tuesday with 375 of 881 precincts reporting. The new act will protect patients, their doctors and their caregivers from state and local arrest and prosecution for the medical use of marijuana. Teresa Michalski of Helena couldn't be happier. Michalski once lived in fear that her late son, Travis, would spend the last few months of his short life in jail for using marijuana during the last stages of Hodgkin's disease. [continues 228 words]
HELENA -- Montanans suffering from certain medical conditions will be able to legally smoke marijuana to ease their symptoms come January 1. The Medical Marijuana Act in Initiative 148 passed by a 64 to 36 percent margin Tuesday with 103 of 887 precincts reporting. The new act will protect patients, their doctors and their caregivers from state and local arrest and prosecution for the medical use of marijuana. Teresa Michalski of Helena couldn't be happier. Michalski once lived in fear that her late son, Travis, would spend the last few months of his short life in jail for using medical marijuana during the end stages of Hodgkin's disease. [continues 226 words]
HELENA -- Voters still show strong support for a constitutional initiative seeking to ban gay marriage in Montana, a new Lee Newspapers poll shows. Likely voters favor Constitutional Initiative 96 by a 59 to 34 percent margin, with 7 percent undecided. Support for the ban remains similar from a similar Lee poll last month that showed voters favoring it 61 to 32 percent, with 7 percent undecided. CI-96, which would limit Montana marriages to unions between one man and one woman, garnered slightly more support from men -- 60 percent - -- compared with 58 percent from women. [continues 244 words]
HELENA - Voters still show strong support for a constitutional initiative seeking to ban gay marriage in Montana, a new Lee Newspapers poll shows. Likely voters favor Constitutional Initiative 96 by a 59 to 34 percent margin, with 7 percent undecided. Support for the ban remains similar from a Lee poll last month that showed voters favoring it 61 to 32 percent, with 7 percent undecided. CI-96, which would limit Montana marriages to unions between one man and one woman, garnered slightly more support from men - 60 percent - compared with 58 percent from women. [continues 242 words]
HELENA - Voters still show strong support for a constitutional initiative seeking to ban gay marriage in Montana, a new Gazette State Poll shows. Likely voters favor Constitutional Initiative 96 by a 59 to 34 percent margin, with 7 percent undecided. Support for the ban remains similar from a similar Lee poll last month that showed voters favoring it 61 to 32 percent, with 7 percent undecided. CI-96, which would limit Montana marriages to unions between one man and one woman, garnered slightly more support from men - 60 percent - compared with 58 percent from women. [continues 550 words]
HELENA - In the last few months of his short life, Travis Michalski of Helena had lost a third of his body weight. His skinny frame was wracked with so much pain, he couldn't bear his families' hugs. And the powerful medications his oncologist gave him to combat the torment of terminal cancer wouldn't stay down. Chemotherapy, which Michalski started immediately after he was diagnosed with the rare blood cancer called Hodgkin's disease, found him vomiting the very day he began treatment. [continues 1010 words]
Montanans Must Decide If Legalizing Marijuana Is Right for Patient Relief or If It Sends the Wrong Message HELENA -- In the last few months of his short life, Travis Michalski of Helena had lost a third of his body weight. His skinny frame was wracked with so much pain, he couldn't bear his families' hugs. And the powerful medications his oncologist gave him to combat the torment of terminal cancer wouldn't stay down. Chemotherapy, which Michalski started immediately after he was diagnosed with the rare blood cancer called Hodgkin's disease, found him vomiting the very day he began treatment. [continues 1010 words]
Most Montanans Would Back Initiative HELENA - In the last few months of his short life, Travis Michalski of Helena had lost one-third of his body weight. His skinny frame was wracked with so much pain that he couldn't bear his families' hugs. And the powerful medications his oncologist gave him to combat the torment of terminal cancer wouldn't stay down. Chemotherapy, which Michalski started immediately after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, caused him nausea from the day he began treatment. [continues 982 words]
HELENA - Days after Gov. Judy Martz sponsored a conference on Montana's methamphetamine problem, a panel of lawmakers voted unanimously Friday to recommend hiring a state "drug czar" to coordinate drug treatment and prevention programs. Legislators on the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee proposed the new cabinet-level position in a committee bill, which will have to be approved by the 2005 Legislature before the job can be created. The interim committee said someone with cabinet-level status needs to take a bird's eye view of all the treatment and prevention programs in the state, and then coordinate them and their resources. [continues 363 words]
HELENA -- A new California study showing that teen use of marijuana has dropped since a medical marijuana law was adopted there in 1996 proves that the permissive laws don't foster youth pot use, Montana marijuana advocates said Friday. The new study, released this week by the state of California, reports that the number of ninth-graders using marijuana dropped 45 percent over the last eight years. When California's medical marijuana law was passed in 1996, 34.2 percent of ninth-graders reported using marijuana within six months of the survey. [continues 376 words]
HELENA - When Larry Rathbun was arrested by Dawson County Sheriff's deputies on marijuana charges in December 1999, he said his multiple sclerosis was under control and he was still able to walk and ride his horses. But when the former Eastern Montana resident was released from Montana State Prison in 2002, he rolled out the front gate in a wheelchair. Rathbun, 54, has suffered from degenerative multiple sclerosis since 1971. He said he has long smoked marijuana to ease his muscle spasms, pain, depression and loss of appetite. [continues 937 words]
HELENA - When Larry Rathbun was arrested by Dawson County sheriff's deputies on marijuana charges in December 1999, he said his multiple sclerosis was under control and he was still able to walk and ride his horses. But when this former eastern Montana resident was released from Montana State Prison in 2002, he rolled out the front gate in a wheelchair. Rathbun, 54, has suffered from degenerative multiple sclerosis since 1971. He said he has long smoked marijuana to ease his muscle spasms, pain, depression and loss of appetite. [continues 1067 words]
