This is a long post folks, but an important one. Last week we received the following comment which expresses deep concern about SB423. I wanted to offer a formal response and go into some detail:
“If the injunction does not become permanent through law.. the State will appeal.. And when the supreme court rules against the district court( and they MOST CERTAINLY WILL!!!) again Medical Marijuana in Montana could be devastated ! That is why we must act now! It is clear that Sb 423 in its current form is not ideal! It would obviously be much better to introduce a feasible Bill NOW! A bill that will actually work for the People! Work for the state! and work for everyone! Patients should be able to have more than an oz! especially if they grow their own! And they should have the option to both grow their own and acquire from a provider! The state should be able to generate much more revenue through this industry and protect the citizens of this great state!! We MUST ACT NOW!! We have to pass something transparent in session this session at all costs!! Lets please get Goetz paid off!! why is he not paid yet!! where is all the money going!!??? This is War imo and we must not underestimate our powerful opponents! that is why we must win in session and pass a comprehensive bill!! SB423 as is with the injunction is only ok but its not what the people or the state or the feds want!!!! So we should act now to be sure the patients interests are being looked out for by the MTCIA and the people of this great state! Act now to ensure the MTCIA and other organizations have the support of our people, who need to contact their politicians. Contact your representative asap! If all the responsibility of the success for Montana’s cannabis industry lies in the hands of the Mtcia, IF WE LOSE THIS SESSION WE DIE AS A GROUP!! individuals will be prohibited from legal access to safe quality local medicine!!! many will be questioning the appropriation of donations and funds acquired over the last 2 years, transparency should be compliant and ultimately we should all stand up now and demand that the interest of the people donating are being properly represented in this fight of a lifetime! ACT NOW!! Support Jim Goetz! Support Montana Rights!!”
First, the MTCIA absolutely and unequivocally thinks SB423 is a bad law. We supported its repeal (even though it wasn’t our campaign), and unfortunately the voters disagreed with us by a very wide margin across the state. There is a lot of head-scratching as to why we fell so far short – voter confusion and preaching to the choir are the most common answers. But it is what it is. And it puts us in a nearly impossible spot this legislative session to take action against it. The general consensus among elected officials – both Democrat and Republican – is that the voters had a chance to get rid of SB423 and instead they overwhelmingly voted to keep it. Ok, ouch.
That leaves us to try and figure out what we CAN do, and the best way to do it. We have been debating this with supporters, lobbyists and politicians since the election.
Right now, we believe the best we can expect to accomplish is to seek make change where the current law is clearly flawed. As I previously wrote, Rep. Kelly McCarthy is introducing bills that will make permanent the things that were blocked in the law. This makes good sense. It costs the state and the community a lot of money to fight over things that are clearly a problem. After all, the state has been blocked twice now, even after the legislature, the AG and the Montana Supreme Court have fought it. We would be better off making these simple changes and moving on.
Senator Wanzenreid is trying to get PTSD added as a condition. We all know PTSD is very real, incredibly harmful to people, and medical marijuana helps. This is another common sense change that benefits patients who need help.
The natural tendency is to try to ditch our current law and start over with a smart regulatory system. But this raises several big concerns among those of us who have been on this ride before, as well as numerous legislators we have talked to.
First, will it accomplish anything? Its one thing to strongly, utterly, and undyingly believe change is needed. Its another to pass a bill. Even the gradual steps we are behind right now have been met with resistance from the top of both parties. If that is how they react to these simple steps, how will the parties react to a complete overhaul? Answer: Not well.
Will filling the halls at the capital with ardent believers make a difference? How about dozens of hours of heart-wrenching testimony? Or thousands of targeted emails to elected officials? Or hundreds of phone calls? They didn’t work last session. At all. We only avoided complete repeal because of the governor’s veto, and then we got a constitutionally defective medical marijuana law. What, exactly, would pushing for an complete overhaul seeking a more liberal bill accomplish this session? After we failed at the polls? Nothing.
In fact, it could easily backfire by re-opening an unpopular issue at the Capital. We have been warned by several well-placed politicians who believe in our cause that it could not only fail, but backfire and open the door to another effort to make things worse than they are now. Keep in mind that our political opponents now run both houses this session, not just the house. The folks that pushed back hard on all attempts last session at better regulation (when there was good support in the Democratic party) now call the shots and have appointed the members of the committees where these bills start. They SPECIFICALLY DO NOT want a repeat of last session and will go to great lengths to avoid it.
Next, politics does not favor efforts that repeatedly fail. It does not help our cause to put a lot of high-profile work behind a push for a law that dies a quick death – particularly when the press loves marijuana stories. We will lose credibility on everything else we try. We already took a big hit on the election, even though it wasn’t our campaign. With our success in the courts so far and our ability to reach the supporters in the state, we at least have some political capital we need to maintain and improve upon. Getting behind a bill that fails to make it out of committee will cost us dearly. We are better off focusing on battles we can win.
Does this mean we don’t care about patients or providers? Of course not. The point of all this hard work for the past year and a half is to improve conditions for patients and providers.
There are some that are concerned we do not always give our donations to our attorney. We have hired both an accountant and a bookkeeper who will be able to assemble a report to clearly show where the money has gone. This report will be available to our members – those who have actually funded us – and not the general public. I can assure everyone that it does not go into anyone’s pockets but our attorney. We do not make salaries and we do not have large travel budgets – we are an all-volunteer organization. Our overhead is extremely low. We hired, and do our best to pay, the best attorney we could find to carry our case. It really does not get any more interesting or complicated than that.
Will medical marijuana go away if we do not take action now? No. While the voters did not overturn SB423 in favor of a new bill, they did vote to keep medical marijuana in place in Montana. Ironically, this actually keeps our opponents in check, at least for status quo. Is history reversing itself? No. More and more states are adopting medical marijuana laws, and Washington and Colorado just voted for legalization. Legalization! That is huge. History-making huge. Ok, so Montana will not be an innovator. Montana will not get the black market under control, keep marijuana out of the hands of minors, or see any tax revenue from the tens of thousands of people in this state will will consume marijuana anyway – at least for now. We got kicked in the teeth first by the federal raids and then by the legislature, but the national trends are clear. Our best approach is to continue to make practical changes where we can. Put pressure on our congressional delegates to change federal law. If our elected officials will not respond to the shift in voter opinion, we get back to the petitions. And we will be back next session, and the next and the next. Change is coming whether our leadership gets that or not.
It is pretty tough being a medical marijuana activist in Montana. For the patients who clearly understand how marijuana benefits them, it seems obvious and tragic. For the providers who have established strong relationships with their sick clients, it is a humanitarian, compassionate labor of love full of risk and unfair stereotypes. The challenges here dwarf those of practically every other state in the US. But we are still here. We are a smarter organization than when we started. Heck, we are an organization at all! We have been successful at holding the law at bay for a year and half, despite the legislature, despite the Attorney General’s office and despite the Montana Supreme Court. And the landscape is changing all the time. We will continue to take every shot we can at improvement. Medical marijuana is not going away. And neither are we.
Soldier on!
Chris, You make some legitimate points here and I agree. I also trust your judgement. As for sending money, I do what I can. I hope others will step up also. After all, it was for the patients that you guys were trying so hard to protect. And you’ve done a damn fine job. Thank you. And thanks for the great pep talk. Soldier On!
Thanks Chris!! Good points, i still think we should have a comprehensive law passed or montana will suffer greatly…But im glad that if providers are limited to 3 patients there may be a chance the limit of one ounce could be ammended to no limit.. and the providers could form nonprofit coop dispensaries with shared distribution not shared registered production sites just shared medicine.. where there is a will there is a way! Thanks for all your awesome support and hard work chris the MTCIA has my support and i will continue to contribute! Only Victory!
It seems to me that a new comprehensive bill could be called an ammendment to SB423 just like ANY OTHER BILL CHANGE… That is why we should use this opportunity to overhaul the law the way it will benefit us all to the MAX !! The State and the Patients! The Feds Already Made their stink and its expensive for them to keep wasting so much time!
As long as Essman is in control of the senate how can any meaningful bill that really helps patients get through the legislature?
Chrs, i dont even know why its worth the trouble to refute the crazy arguements made by those people, but that was a very well written response and using proper punctuationdoes always make a case stronger
As most in the area around Kalispell know, we ran out of money and had to shut down again, definitely wont be back unless the law in Montana changes. The MTCIA have done an incredible job as well as everyone else who has put forth time, money, blood sweat and tears. They all deserve a big thanks!
Over the course of the passed few months all i keep hearing and getting asked is why/how did the vote go so horribly wrong. If you would like to know the answer to that, here it is: VOTER CONFUSION. The number of people for use of marijuana is greater than the number of people against it but you have to get their vote. Whoever OK’d the wording that got put on the ballot was obviously not in touch with the people or reality because any normal person will tell you the wording was beyond confusing! Even our opposition screamed how confusing it was. I truly 100% believe in putting it back to the voters for the next vote session and ask it as completely simple as possible….. “Should marijuana be legalized, regulated and taxed?”…….i am willing to bet everything i own that it would get passed with overwhelming votes for “YES”. People in this state as well as many other states want to have safe access to marijuana and its time the so called leaders of America LISTEN.
The state, its legislators, and its people have spoken. They do not want marijuana, whether medical or not, in their state. Fine! that means they dont want me and my family either. So, we have taken our own stand against them… we do not want the state, its legislators, and its people in our lives. I am moving my family to a state where we are welcomed and wanted. Let montana fall to the rotten senators and their egotistical, hypocritical selves. These senators wouldn’t stand a chance in hell in any other state. I am one of the lucky ones that can get out, for those of you that cannot, my heart and prayers are with you. When I do get to another state, if im asked “how was living in montana” my response will be clear “it was an utter joke” and “its a waste land of old obsolete values and older money”. If the senators can’t be moved out of this state then unfortunately this state will lie in waste and ruin while the rest of the country, and my family, prospers on.
Good Luck and a message to you Chris. Many thanks to you and your staff of volunteers whom have put in much time and effort to fight for us. I respect what you do and have done and always thank you for the encouragement you have provided us.
The saddest part is that what was initially passed by the voters was abused by patients and providers alike. Montana cannabis was large scale growing cannabis in a green house fully visible from a highway. Did these people have brains in their heads?? I don’t know if anyone in MT has ever been to CA …. But I was a patient there before moving to MT, and for being the second biggest marijuana capital of the world behind Amsterdam, there is ZERO visible plants, and the dispensaries are visible to those who know what they’re looking for. There are no advertising signs and billboards like there was here. The citizens of Montana responded to their voter passed law with immaturity, greed, and smugness. It was like a child that got a gum ball machine for Christmas, and instead if eating one ball at a time, putting a quarter in the machine, he just tips it over so all the balls roll all over the floor. Pretty soon mommy will have to come clean up the mess, and most likely take away the machine. The legislature doesn’t respect us because they had to be mommy and clean up the mess created by businesses like Montana cannabis. Other states cannabis laws are getting MORE AND MORE LIBERAL while ours is going the other way. Why??? Because here in Montana we seemed to not be able to handle such freedom without abuse. I think that the correct approach is not to stress the illness of patients, but to stress the increased organization and maturity that will now be instituted now that the greed and immaturity is gone. Sb423 just made the providers in mt realize that this is not a business to be in the spotlight, which should have been understood from the beginning. This is positive; now we should use this “positive” aspect of 423′s restrictiveness as a perfect reason to ease the restrictions. Why can we ease restrictions now? Because sb423 did its job and weeded out all of the publicity, greed, immaturity, AND fake patients. Just my 2 cents
The fact that sb423 worked for the interim should be stressed. Now we can use the smaller, more private cannabis at, atmosphere that it created as a basis for degregulation because the only people left are either truly ill, or mature, sensible, discreet providers. This was the original goal.
Also, to show how uninformed and literally “suspended back in time” the legislature is: here is a link to the UNIVERSITY OF CA: Center for Medical Cannabis Research website. This is how far out of touch our legislature is. The University of CA system includes the likes of Cal Berkely and UCLA (a renowned medical school) as well as numerous schools in the TOP
30 in the nation. How is it that they see Cannabis legitimate enough to fund university level medical research while the Montana legislature still thinks it’ll make you a “hippie” or a “burn out”. It’s comical. It’s deliberate intentional ignorance.
http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140&Itemid=61
Regardless of how I’ll the patients are, it is a matter of responsibility. Just because people benefit from it does not denote the fact that it is easily abused. The legislature does not want another gum ball incident and with sb 423, they have ensured this. Obviously this was their motive, not to harm thousands of sick people. While Ill peoples’ needs are a good way to maintain a status quo, it is a sound design of legislation that can convince the powers that be that there will never be a wild west of marijuana in Montana again. Compromise must be exhibited for any ground to be gained. The patients that are sick do not run the industry, nor can they grow their own medicine, we’ve proven that. Seriously Sick people did not bring the Feds to Montana. Grow ops on the side of the highway did. The real fight is not to show the legislature how sick we are, it is against the irresponsibility of the people assigned to actually grow the medicine. Therefore tight regulations on providers with laws that favor patients would probably be more successful. Maybe limit providers to 50 patients each, but abolish the landlord permission slip so more people could become providers more easily. Allow all patients to grow for themselves if they wish without permission slips even if they have a provider. Mandate that providers must be set up as non profit organizations. The politicians don’t want an industry. So make it that way. Propose an even higher regulation on the providers or anyone that is trying to profit off of marijuana that we can live with, for a more relaxed regulation in other areas. At 50 patients each with no landlord slips, there would be more than enough people willing to grow for others to support legitimate demand, also many people will begin to experiment with growing for themselves and may switch over; this is what the politicians want. SO GIVE IT TO THEM. Give them what they want so we can have what we want
Yes the people of Montana voted to keep SB423. We were sick and tired of the abuse in the distributing of medical cards, the influx of distributors in our towns and cities, and the lies put forth by their operators. While there are a select few who could benefit from limited use of marijuana it is very clear and has been testified that this gateway drug should not be legalized nor should the current law be watered down in any way. NO to the sale for profit of marijuana, NO to the large grow operations, and NO to the widespread issuing of medical marijuana cards that we have seen in the past.
Bill Cunnane
Libby
Bill, Bill, Bill! Why must you spread your ignorance on a site like this? Perhaps you should take a look at what is really happening out there!
I guess you prefer “underground” activity because you cannot see it.
Did you know that you can get a medical card in California for $40.00.
It is about $250+ in Montana. What difference does it make? Well Bill, the difference it makes is that many of the people who need it cannot afford it? I am not a doctor and I assume you are not either; why act like you know what is best for people you do not know?
Do you research!
Why are you people so against providers making a profit? I look into this issue 2 years later and still in Montana you want providers to do what they do out of the goodness of their heart. Sorry but you expect too much. Caring for plants is time consuming work. Marijuana growers are subject to the cost of living like everyone else. All goods and services are available to you because the provider of that service is allowed to make a living doing it. That is how the system works. How can you still expect spare time hobbyists to handle the need for MMJ on Montana? Doing so hurts patients. You argued this point 2 years ago. Jeez.