The new restrictions on medical marijuana going into effect this week will be devastating for patients. I know first-hand because I am a medical marijuana patient and have been for the past 10 years. Medical marijuana allows me to effectively treat my medical condition in a safer way and without the complications associated with the pharmaceuticals I would otherwise need to use. I have an incurable disease, Arnold Chiari Malformation and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. These ailments typically would cause my brain to herniate into my spinal cord. I had my first brain surgery when I was 14 and have undergone multiple brain and spinal procedures that have saved my life but have also caused me severe pain. [continues 494 words]
Three Casper residents demonstrated for the legalization of medical marijuana and industrial hemp products Saturday, part of what they say will be regular demonstrations at Conwell Park. As people in passing vehicles stared or honked -- one person gave the group a thumbs-down sign -- demonstrators held signs that said "Help end marijuana prohibition," "Cannabis -- fuel, paper, food and medicine" and "Cannabis cures cancer." The demonstrators are part of the new group Wyoming Cannabis Activists. The organization had simultaneous demonstrations at the Cheyenne Depot in the capital city, at which 10 people showed up, and in Jackalope Square in Douglas, at which local resident and U.S. Senate Republican candidate Thomas Bleming demonstrated, said Marcia Stuelpnagel, co-founder of Wyoming Cannabis Activists. [continues 362 words]
In response to Steve Zabawa's effort to make any possession of marijuana illegal, I suggest that he try living with the chronic pain that many users have to deal with. True, when the law was first enacted, people abused it, but that will happen with almost everything due to the current society we live in. As a former card carrier, I dare those who have never suffered from chronic pain to try tying off a part of their body to the point that it hurts, then try living with that pain 24/7/365. That might give people an idea of what it's like to live with chronic pain. [continues 171 words]
HELENA - Montana's medical-marijuana law was back in court Tuesday, as an attorney for the drug's users and the industry argued that restrictive parts of the 2011 rewrite of marijuana rules should be permanently voided. James Goetz, a Bozeman lawyer, said those provisions have been blocked by a court for almost three years, and yet the law is still curbing pre-2011 abuses that the Legislature wanted to address. "We have kind of an experiment, we have actual evidence that certain features of the (law) were not necessary to accomplish its goals," he told District Judge James Reynolds of Helena. "The state's own witnesses have conceded that things are not only better, but much better." [continues 550 words]
WILLISTON, N.D. - The blood-drenched man had survived a brutal attack: Beaten with brass knuckles, shocked with a stun gun, slashed with a razor blade, then dumped 40 miles away in Montana, he staggered to a farmhouse for help. His path eventually led authorities back to a quiet backyard in this oil boom town. What they uncovered was a large-scale methamphetamine ring. The members of this violent gang were all relative newcomers to Williston. They called themselves "The Family," the feds said, and were holed up in a few campers tucked behind a white-frame house. They had plenty of firepower, too: One of the men had 22 weapons. [continues 2499 words]
As a former Billings resident, I want to offer another perspective to the May 12 article titled "Federal crackdown busts medical-marijuana industry." The story details the March 2011 raids on businesses in plain sight and says the resulting prosecutions were "widely seen as a success and possibly a model for others." The author failed to account for some things in his "final scorecard" of 33 convictions. Most importantly, a death toll is omitted. Richard Flor was the state's first registered caregiver and the first defendant to be sentenced. An aging Vietnam veteran, Flor's family warned the judge that he would not survive prison. Flor died four months into his five-year sentence. His widow, Sherry, is serving a two-year prison sentence for working as a bookkeeper. [continues 134 words]
HELENA --- So far, the 2013 Legislature appears to be no more receptive to medical marijuana than the 2011 session was. The House Human Services Committee on Friday tabled --- and almost certainly killed -- four medical-marijuana bills by Rep. Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings. The bills all died on 12-4 votes, with 10 Republicans and two Democrats opposing the bills, while four Democrats backed them. McCarthy's bills were intended to fix the 2011 medical-marijuana law, Senate Bill 423, which has been challenged in court. He tried to remove those provisions in the law that District Judge James Reynolds of Helena has twice blocked with preliminary injunctions, most recently in January. [continues 520 words]
Missoula MT. - A last-minute flurry of activity surrounding the case of convicted medical marijuana grower Chris Williams did not halt Williams' scheduled sentencing in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Friday. On Thursday afternoon, federal Judge Dana Christensen ordered that a sentencing memorandum, dated Monday, from an Ohio State University law professor would not be given the weight of an official memorandum. Christensen said the memorandum from Douglas Berman, who has raised questions about a plea agreement in the case, was untimely and didn't comply with local rules. [continues 468 words]
CASPER, Wyo. - Access to marijuana has never been easier for Wyomingites with transportation. Any point in the state is no more than 180 miles from either Montana, where medicinal marijuana is permitted; or Colorado, where recreational usage is now legal. In late 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states in the nation to not only decriminalize but allow adults over 21 to possess an ounce or less. Under the current Wyoming state law, anyone arrested for possessing up to an ounce of the drug could face up to a year in jail or up to a $1,000 fine. No immunity is offered for those who purchased or received a prescription from out of state. [continues 427 words]
With our state's continued debate on medical marijuana use, and now with Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational marijuana use, it got me to think. As a society, are we ignoring the dangers we are exposing the majority to? I guessed the majority of the people who voted to legalize medical marijuana in the state of Montana, assumed people in need would have the prescription filled in the same procedure all current legal drugs are given. The greater concern I have is the new trend of legalizing recreational marijuana. With drug use (including marijuana) as the sixth leading cause of traffic fatalities, let's see how as a society we have done with another legalized drug, alcohol. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drunk driving represented 40 percent of total traffic deaths in 2006. Not good. [continues 140 words]
I'm an old woman with chronic pain. I have a prescription from my physician for medical marijuana. However, I have been unable to find a pharmacy in town that will fill it. They're all spooked! My physician tells me there are medical marijuana providers out there. I even talked to one. He's out of the business because of the latest initiative passed by a majority of voters in the recent election. I have no hope that the 2013 conservative GOP majority Legislature will do anything to change the situation. [continues 56 words]
SB-423, the Montana Legislature's attempt to prohibit medical marijuana, has had a devastating effect on patients. Greg was a finish carpenter until he developed a seizure disorder that made it dangerous for him to handle a saw. His doctors tried to find the right medication, but nothing worked. When I met him, he was in his late 50s, working as a swamper in a bar, seizing regularly, and drinking heavily. He got his "green card," found the cannabis strains that worked for him, and was seizure-free for three years. Greg had also been trying to get sober -- dry spells as long as three weeks. Studies show that alcohol consumption among males drops significantly when medical cannabis is available to them. [continues 104 words]
Cancer has been trying to kill me for a while now, which is why I hope Montanans will vote "no" on this year's medical marijuana ballot issue. Let me explain. I was diagnosed with lung cancer six years ago. The treatments I went through were horrendous, the pain I experience is excruciating, and the various modern medications I am given cause hideous nightmares. Let me tell you, cancer is a cruel way for a person's life to come to an end. [continues 419 words]
In response to public outcry over the unregulated, out-of-control medical marijuana industry, the Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill 423. After months of deliberation and thousands of testimonies from each side, this bill passed with the support of both Republicans and Democrats. Even though the bill is not in full effect yet, it has put some very needed and welcomed sideboards on this rapidly growing industry. Since its passing, the number of registered medical marijuana users has dropped from 30,000 to 8,849, the number of providers has dropped from 4,800 to 395, and many of the storefronts are disappearing. With the law imposing additional requirements for minors to obtain cards, Montana now has only two cards holders under the age of 18. [continues 361 words]
HELENA - As Chris Williams waited for a 12-member jury to decide his fate last month on eight marijuana-related charges, he was surprisingly calm for a man who knew he could be jailed for 85 years. He mentioned that he had taken a nap and was reading a book, "Ethics for a New Millennium" by the Dalai Lama. "I was almost finished with it, but continued to reread some of the most enlightening chapters," Williams wrote in a letter from his cell at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. "The study of philosophy and religion has always interested me, even though I am not the most educated in either subject." [continues 2506 words]
A press conference to charge Attorney General Steve Bullock of botching medical marijuana ballot language quickly soured on pot opponents who found themselves accused of blowing smoke. The anti-medical marijuana group Safe Communities, Safe Kids was staging a press conference Wednesday to announce a political practice complaint against Steve Bullock, when gate-crashing medical marijuana proponents and even a member of Bullock's staff interrupted to deride the charges as election foolery. "You're trying to pull a political stunt using a mechanism that is not set up for this purpose," said Jim Molloy, an assistant attorney general to Bullock. [continues 562 words]
Montana voters on Nov. 6 will approve or reject five ballot items including whether to require parental notification before a minor's abortion and whether to declare that corporations do not have constitutional rights regarding campaign spending. But along with citizen lawmakers in five other states, marijuana-related ballot initiatives will, in the long run, have a far greater impact nationally. Medical marijuana has already been approved in Montana. Voters in two states, Massachusetts and Arkansas, will decide if marijuana can be used for medical purposes with the advice of a licensed doctor. If passed, Massachusetts will join nearby states -- Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island -- where the drug is already used to ease pain caused by cancer and other serious medical conditions. [continues 418 words]
Let's start by clearing up any confusion about Initiative 124. Voter approval would cement restrictions on medical marijuana approved by the 2011 Legislature. Rejection would restore the 2004 voter-approved law that legalized the medical use of marijuana in Montana. So - "for 124" is for extensive restrictions. "Against" ditches them in favor of the less severe 2004 law. "Trying to explain what will happen under (the initiative) is a little bit ridiculous," said Bob Brigham, campaign manager for Patients for Reform, Not Repeal. "It's tough to convince people that it will actually be that bad." [continues 597 words]
Thanks to the petition efforts of last year, Montana voters will have the opportunity this November to accept or deny SB 423, the new medical marijuana law. However, in talking to people recently, I have found that many of us are not really aware of what this law entails. While this law is being presented as the tighter regulation that medical marijuana does in fact need, the actual effect will be to eliminate the entire industry overnight. Among other questionable aspects of the new law, SB 423 would make it illegal for any medical marijuana caregiver to charge money for their service and product. Clearly no business can operate under these conditions. I am not trying to tell anyone how they should vote. I just want to do my best to make sure everyone understands what the new law would entail. Local businessmen will lose their investment. Local jobs will be lost. Many of us believe that by saying no to this draconian law, we can pressure the next legislative session to present a reasonable middle ground. Davin Nelson Livingston [end]
VOTERS FAVOR NEW MARIJUANA LAW, 44% TO 31% HELENA - Montana voters support the more restrictive medical marijuana law and strongly back a ballot issue requiring girls under age 16 to get parental consent before having an abortion, a new Gazette State Poll shows. They also favor another ballot issue that would deny state services to "illegal aliens." Mason Dixon Polling & Research Inc. took the poll Monday through Wednesday for the Gazette State Bureau, interviewing 625 registered voters who said they were likely to vote in November. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, although the margin rises with subgroups like gender. [continues 671 words]
