Monthly Archives: September 2012

Chris Williams was found guilty on all counts related to his work at a state-licensed medical marijuana caregiver organization, which was the subject of a federal raid in March of 2011. The verdict was reached by the jury shortly after 5:00 p.m. today and Mr. Williams was taken into custody by law enforcement officers. Chris faces mandatory minimum sentences which run into decades, and could be as high as 85 to 90 years. Maximum sentences run for several lifetimes. “It’s a [...]

The jury is currently deliberating the fate of Chris Williams, the single hold-out in the Montana Cannabis case being tried in Helena and the first medical marijuana defendant to go to trial in federal court in Montana. His attorney moved for a mistrial based on comments made by the prosecutor during closing arguments, but the judge denied the motion. Read more here: http://helenair.com/news/williams-trial-defense-attorney-requests-mistrial/article_43bc4c32-08c7-11e2-919b-001a4bcf887a.html

Earlier today the Missoula Independent published a memo written by U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter to federal law enforcement officials in Montana. The memo discusses plant counts and weights in what appear to be threshold amounts as a basis for prosecution.  Please take a moment to read both the article and the memo. We encourage you to pay particular attention to the comments by Diane Sands, which are quoted in the news story. It is tempting to read this memo as a [...]

This is the petition for rehearing that was sent to the Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court yesterday: Appellees' Petition for Rehearing

As many of you know, I was charged with several federal offenses related to work I did while at a company called Montana Cannabis. All of the original partners in Montana Cannabis have pled guilty to various federal charges related to medical marijuana activity except for Chris Williams, and his trial started today. I and several others related to the business were subpoenaed to testify today and did so in Helena. Chris’ attorney may yet call me back to testify further. [...]

Many providers are rightfully concerned about the upcoming changes to the injunction the MTCIA obtained on our current medical marijuana law. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you likely know that the Montana Supreme Court issued a decision that requires that the injunction be changed, and ordered the lower court to reconsider the basis for issuing it. The injunction blocked several of the worst provisions of the current medical marijuana law. The state’s [...]

Check out this statement issued by Patients for Reform earlier today.  To hear the ad, go to http://www.patientsforreform.org/radio-ad/. (September 18, 2012 – Helena, MT) A radio ad airing statewide beginning today uses the voice of state Senator Larry Jent (D-Bozeman) to urge voters to reject Senate Bill 423, the new “repeal and destroy” medical marijuana law passed by the 2011 Montana Legislature, it was announced today. In the ad, Jent admits that the Legislature’s final vote in the 2011 session was [...]

This statement was just sent to the MTCIA by the Department of Public Health and Human Services, and now appears on the Marijuana Program website for the department: "The September 11, 2012 Decision of the Supreme Court in Montana Cannabis v. State, 2012 MT 201, effectively lifts the injunction imposed by District Court Judge James Reynolds, as to the enforcement of §§ 50-46-308 (3), (4), (6)(a), and (6)(b), MCA. However, the decision of the Supreme Court does not take effect until [...]

Unfortunately, as of this moment, we do not know. DPHHS is considering this question and will post information on its website later today. There have been no official statements by the state's attorney general's office. It is a complicated answer for a number of reasons and full of uncertainty. The Court's ruling says the judge's decision is "reversed and remanded." Does the word "reversed" mean the injunction automatically goes away? It is simply not clear. Add to this the fact that [...]

In lieu of our usual monthly meetings, we will be holding a statewide conference call this Wednesday night at 7pm.  We think that it is important to keep everyone informed, but it isn't really cost-effective for Chris to travel around the state.  We also know there are a lot of you unable to attend the meetings for one reason or another. Everyone is welcome to join us.  Chris will lead the call and the primary topic of the discussion will be [...]

As many of you know, Richard Flor passed away on August 30th while in federal custody.  Flor was the first registered caregiver in the state of Montana.  Flor, along with his wife and son, were serving time in prison as a result of their involvement with Montana Cannabis.  He suffered from many ailments that included dementia and diabetes.  He also broke several bones while falling out of bed onto the concrete prison floor.  Despite the Federal Bureau of Prisons having provisions [...]