HELENA — Montana's medical marijuana law is flawed but repeal is not the answer, according to most of those who testified Wednesday on the Legislature's first bill to scrap the voter-approved act.
Supporters of repeal told members a House committee that voters today want to scrap the law, but Ken Lindeman, a medical marijuana patient and caregiver, cited the numbers of anti-repealers as his proof.
"If the voters didn't want (medical marijuana), then how come every committee meeting we come in and outnumber them 3-to-1?" he asked.
At today's hearing, 86 signed up to speak against the bill and 28 registered as opponents.
Lindeman said the law obviously needs to be fixed, adding that those legitimately using the drug and those who favor repeal have a shared enemy in those abusing the law.
Bozeman Mayor Jeff Krauss called for the state to follow his city's model for regulation and reminded lawmakers that people are always turning to the government to take away their fears.
"I think you can make this work if you take the time to do it," Krauss said. "Don't just close your minds and call for prohibition."
But House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade and the sponsor of House Bill 161, disagreed, saying the only answer was to shut the system down. He compared the recent explosion of the medical marijuana industry to the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.
"We're not talking about the dikes holding back the water anymore," Milburn said. "We're talking about how do you rebuild the city?"
Both he and others hinted at returning to the idea of medical marijuana after a repeal and at the possibility of another law, but offered no specifics.
Mark Long, chief of the Montana Narcotics Bureau with the Department of Justice, said repeal was the only way to go.
He said the amount of marijuana being produced in the state far exceeds the amount patients can use, making it a prime choice for smugglers. He added that a colleague in North Dakota called Montana a "source country" for the drug, likening the state to Mexico or Colombia.
Long also said the loose regulations surrounding medical marijuana attract criminals looking to set up shop and ship out-of-state under the guise of being caregivers. He joked that the same colleague who blamed Montana for exporting marijuana also thanked him for taking criminals in.
As with all of the medical marijuana legislation that has come before the 2011 session, patients said they are caught between a burgeoning industry and a worried public.
Kai Weber, a University of Montana student who treats her chronic pain with marijuana, addressed the committee from a wheelchair. She said she hopes to attend law school and that medical marijuana has kept her in school and out of the hospital this year.
"If this repeal passes," Weber said, "you not only take away my access to a wonderful medicine, you take away my hopes and dreams for the future."
- Reporter Cody Bloomsburg can be reached at 208-816-0809 or by e-mail at crbloomsburg@hotmail.com
allenallen posted at 2:12 pm on Tue, Mar 15, 2011.
I can see why people are focusing on the Republicans as being the jerks in Montana because it is a Republican who is sponsoring the bill. However....
I'm a life-long Democrate and sadly, this is due to the Obama administration. Please write the president. (google: write the president) because he's waaaaayyy off base on this issue.
On a national scale and the reason for the widespread medical marijuana busts and harassments is due to Obama's pick of Michele Lionheart as DEA cheif. THAT was Obama's choice. Her stated purpose (known ahead of time) was to bust medical marijuana operations and clients.
See her quotes and what NORML said about her:
"...she has continually demonstrated her desire to block privately funded medical marijuana research in this country. The Obama administration has reversed many Bush administration policies over the past 18 months."
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/norml-mpp-and-dpa-to-obama-michele-leonhart-unfit-for-dea-post
allenallen posted at 2:00 pm on Tue, Mar 15, 2011.
Your government says, "Liberty? What's that? Die in pain, choking on your own vomit citizen."
DJC posted at 11:10 pm on Sun, Feb 13, 2011.
I am in favor of, but also really concerned about one aspect of SB 154 (Dave Lewis' bill)---it forbids cannabis medical treatment to anyone who is presently serving probation time under the Department of Corrections. My son, during the past 13 months of being a medical cannabis patient has experienced over a 90% reduction in life threatening seizures. He spent most of his life, previous to cannabis) averaging 10 to 12 major seizures per year, with ambulance transport to the E.R. During the past 13 months of being a cardholder/patient, my son only had 1 seizure.
It was not my son's idea to become a cannabis patient. After years of seizures and trying everything medically possible, I am the one who took him and his life long medical file to the doctor to ask for recommendation to the state for his card. The doctor said my son, with his list of severe medical conditions was extremely qualified to be a patient. My son was already on probation at the time of becoming a registered cannabis patient.
My son uses medical cannabis according to doctors' directions, and does not abuse it. He is extremely careful to abide by all state laws regarding it's use. My son must answer for all his actions to his probation officer regularly, and he knows he must do everything in his life perfectly, 100% of the time, in accordance to the law, and her rules. People on probation a are highly controlled group of people. If they fail to comply, they go to jail.
If SB 154 bill passes, (without a revision to the section that denies medical cannabis for probationers), then I know my son's life will again be at much greater risk.
The judge who sentenced my son to probation did not include any restriction of life saving medicine from him. Instead, the judge encouraged my son to take care of his severe medical conditions.
Senate Bill 154 establishes within it's drafting that cannabis is a valid medicinal treatment for seizures, (and many other conditions), .... until it arrives at the section forbidding this medical treatment to probationers. Forbidding it to someone on probation, (no matter how sick that person is) can only be one of two things,
1. Cruel and unusual punishment, or
2. Admittance of an underlying belief that cannabis is a drug for fun and recreation, and isn't really medicinal after all.
So while I am in favor overall of SB 154, I am against that one section of it.
Dutch posted at 1:05 pm on Tue, Feb 8, 2011.
I'm from Arizona and a friend of the couple from Ca. that were lured to Montana by a snitch to be busted for weed, it's the only way the hillbillie cops in Montana can catch anyone, the comments from you Montana people are great, majority rules all you do gooder Rep. jerks, move away and free the weed,,Peace
mntnman444 posted at 10:54 am on Mon, Feb 7, 2011.
A Republican "DEATH PANEL"...inviting big brother into our private lives to dictate what a doctor recommends as the best medicine???
Who would have thunk it?
rfabro posted at 10:06 am on Sat, Feb 5, 2011.
So now the Repubs are going to vote "against the will of the people", and "shove" repeal "down our throats"?
Huh?
dukeridesagain posted at 1:17 pm on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
So to recap, we have a wheelchair bound patient testifying that the medicine is effective and we have a cattle rancher from Cascade who has no real medical training saying we need to deny her. Well played Mike. Your experience with livestock, both professional and romantic, obviously qualifies you to make this decision. "Rebuild the city" Mike? How does someone in pain ingesting a plant compare to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina? Over sixty percent of the voters approved this measure. Do you really think that your uninformed uneducated uncaring opinion trumps the will of the people?
Perspective posted at 12:31 pm on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
Who really cares what North Dakota thinks anyway? They're a source country for, well, sunflowers.....
I think we all the know the dangers of sunflowers.
petit_singe posted at 10:08 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
Trying to repeal something that the people of Montana voted to pass is a serious abuse of power, and I don't think the 1 in every 35 Montanans who utilize medical marijuana would take a repeal lying down.
paddler posted at 8:22 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
Mark Long, chief of the Montana Narcotics Bureau is a lying tool when he says that MT is a "source country" because of cheap abundant pot. I've just returned from Seattle where I watched my 80yr old mother-in-law (stricken with horrible glaucoma) purchase medical marijuana for 60% of what it would have cost her here in MT. Tobacco, now there's a dangerous drug, it killed my mother and many of my good friends, you do-gooders should maybe focus on tobacco or alcohol for a while.
Duncan20903 posted at 1:53 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
It is remarkable how many people in the various States that have decriminalized medical cannabis can claim with a straight face that their voters were "bamboozled" or whatever word the Know Nothing prohibitionists prefer nowadays intended to denigrate the will of the people if it doesn't match their own "reasoning". It was tragically precious when I read a Know Nothing from Rhode Island state that the RI legislature had been "bamboozled, and that the matter should go to the voters to decide. These liars are very talented when it comes to playing two ends against the middle.
Their "reasoning" being that they don't want to see where the malingering Spicolis buy their headstash. The key point these people are missing is that if Montana's medical cannabis law were to disappear without a trace tomorrow at 9 am the Spicolis would have headstash in hand by noon, and would be stoned by 4:20. Congratulations, you've inconvenienced Mr. Spicoli and forced him to think. Forced him to think for as much as a minute to recall where he had left his black market cannabis vendor's phone number.
This is a decision that should be being made by licensed medical authorities with the proper education and bona fides, not by uneducated Know Nothing prohibitionists, and certainly not by politicians with a political agenda.
Has anyone reading this ever woken up sick and said, "oh I don't feel so good, I'd better call a politician"? Perhaps some go to the doctor first but made sure to call a politician for a second opinion, especially before getting any prescriptions filled??
Can the Montana legislature actually overturn a ballot initiative with a simple majority? Why not call them voter's suggestions instead of ballot initiatives instead?
Duncan20903 posted at 1:31 am on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
If the ignorati in Montana are claiming that there has been an increase in "drugged " driving in Montana, SAMHSA says that they're lying. You say driving while drugged has increased because of medical cannabis, and there is carnage and mayhem on the highways? The trouble with hysterical rhetoric is that it's so often wrong. Will the people of Montana allow politicians with a political agenda decide what is, and what is not medicine?
On 12/10/2010 SAMHSA published the results of a study of the incidence in "drugged" driving and was pleased to announce that the nationwide incidence of "drugged" driving had declined by a statistically significant percentage. They were also pleased to announce that there was not even a single State which had suffered a statistically significant increase in the incidence of "drugged" driving.
SAMHSA credited the nationwide statistically significant reduction in "drugged" driving to the 7 States which also enjoyed a statistically significant decreases in its incidence during the study's time frame.
4 of the 7 States are States that have laws like the CUA which decriminalize medicinal cannabis. Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, and California, the latter is of course the Know Nothing prohibitionists "poster child" for medical cannabis run amuck. But that's why I call them Know Nothings, because they simply know nothing about that which they seem so certain is true.
Read 'em and weep:
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/205/DruggedDriving.htm
bznloc posted at 9:52 pm on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
It seems pretty insulting to the people of Louisiana for Mike Milburn, (R-Cascade) to compare this debate about medial marijuana to Hurricane Katrina.
jakemont posted at 7:45 pm on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
Montanan's were babuzzled with hype" about all the good that would be achieved"
The initative was riddled with loopholes
It the law needs to be tightened by the legislature
I'm just glad your not in the legislature
vinski posted at 7:18 pm on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
Just Effin legalize it across the board and let the money roll in. And stop making people take p tests for work. It is in your system for weeks even though you are not high. Stupid to try to fire someone who is likely not impaired at all. This country is just plain WRONG about weed. We just went to a funeral caused by alcohol sadly. Close friends have had lives ruined by Alcohol. It's just amazing how pot been illegal for so long and people have been going to jail and how I cannot go buy a joint at a store and choose my flavor and know who grew it but can get a bottle of Jack and drink my life away. The fact that we even have to have medical Marijuana is dumb it should just be legal.
dregstudios posted at 3:26 pm on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
Marijuana is the safest drug with actual benefits for the user as opposed to alcohol which is dangerous, causes addiction, birth defects, and affects literally every organ in the body. Groups are organizing all over the country to speak their minds on reforming pot laws. I drew up a very cool poster for the cause which you can check out on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/vote-teapot-2011.html Drop in and let me know what you think!