LAWMAKERS TO HEAR PAIR OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILLS

HELENA -- When voters passed the Montana Medical Marijuana Act by a
wide margin in 2004, would-be medical marijuana patients across state
the rejoiced.

For the first time, Montana doctors could legally recommend medical
marijuana to patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, debilitating
pain, multiple sclerosis and many other ailments. Supporters and
patients saw the passage of the initiative as validation for the
plant they say is a wonder drug.

Marijuana's detractors still have their doubts.

Lawmakers will hear from both sides this week as the Legislature
begins hearings on two bills designed to modify the 2004 medical marijuana law.

Supporters of medical marijuana say a bill scheduled for a Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday morning is an attempt by
detractors to unfairly single out marijuana patients in the case of
traffic stops.

Senate Bill 212, sponsored by Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, says
that if a medical-marijuana patient or caregiver is stopped for a
traffic violation or is involved in a crash, the police can demand
the person submit to a blood test. Under the proposed law, if the
driver is found to be impaired by marijuana -- based on limits
outlined in the bill -- they could face prosecution and forfeiture of
their medical marijuana privileges.

"If an officer suspects someone is driving under heavy influence of
marijuana and is driving erratically, this particular law would
basically provide the procedures for the officer to follow the law,"
Jackson said.

Tom Daubert is the founder and director of Patients and Families
United, a support group for medical marijuana patients.

Daubert said Jackson's bill unjustly targets marijuana patients when
there are thousands of Montanans who take prescription medications
that can lead to impaired driving.

"The most draconian aspect of the bill is that it proposes to
eliminate, for life, those patients' right to possess medical
marijuana regardless of what their doctors say, regardless of what
happens to their medical condition in the future. There is no such
penalty in place right now for any other substance." Daubert said.

Chris Lindsey, a criminal defense attorney in Helena and a medical
marijuana patient, said Jackson's bill would deter patients from
seeking legal registration with the state health department. He said
some patients would avoid the registration rather than carry a card
that would single them out to law enforcement officers.

"If I am just Joe Citizen driving down the street, and I don't have a
(marijuana registry) card, law enforcement has no particular or
special right to treat me any different than anybody else. Yet if I
am a patient, if a doctor has actually come along and said, 'This is
something that you'd benefit by,' and the state then gives me a
license, what I'm actually doing is volunteering for a blood draw if
I ever exceed the speed limit," Lindsey said. "I don't think that's
what our voters had in mind."

The bill sets a legal limit of tetrahydrocannabinol -- or THC, the
active chemical in marijuana -- allowed while driving. Daubert said
those limits are not based on science. Plus, Daubert said, THC can
remain in a patient's blood days after that patient actually took the medicine.

Jackson said a constituent worked on the language dealing with THC
limits and didn't know how they were derived.

Jackson said he doesn't have a position on the 2004 voter-approved
medical marijuana law. He said the intent of his bill is to reduce
the number of impaired drivers on the road.

"In the case of marijuana, we may have a problem where people are
taking it and they are impaired and they may be in a position where
someone gets killed as a result of that," Jackson said.

The other bill up for consideration this week is House Bill 73,
sponsored by Rep. Julie French, D-Scobey. Medical marijuana
supporters favor French's bill, which would allow nurse practitioners
and physician assistants to recommend marijuana for medical use.
Under the existing law only licensed physicians are allowed to do so.

Daubert said nurse practitioners are often the primary health care
providers for patients in rural areas. Daubert said there are more
than 1,500 registered medical marijuana patients in 42 Montana
counties, and many of those patients live far from doctors.

"Under the current law these folks have to drive sometimes hundreds
of miles to see a doctor who doesn't know them and has never treated
them before," Daubert said. "Their nurse practitioner can already
prescribe any other drug, but they can't yet make medical marijuana
recommendations. This law would fix that."

The bill would also extend the expiration date of a medical marijuana
registration from one year to three years.

Lindsey said the main problem with re-upping every year is that
failure to do so would automatically disqualify a patient or
caregiver from the program and open them up to prosecution.

"In the case where the person may be their own caregiver, if they
lose their status they are instantly committing a felony, and a very
serious one: manufacturing a dangerous drug," Lindsey said. "What
we've got here is that through mistake, through not sending in your
registration on a timely basis every year, you end up with a felony
and one that could land you in prison for an awful long time."

The two medical marijuana bills up for hearing this week are the
first of several expected to come before the Legislature this
session. Other bills that have yet to be introduced include a measure
to increase the amount of marijuana patients and caregivers are
allowed to possess. Another would add ailments such as PTSD and
Alzheimer's disease to the list of ailments for which marijuana could
be recommended.

Tom Berry, R-Roundup, is working on a bill that would bar persons
convicted of a felony drug offense from the state medical marijuana
registry. That bill would also stiffen the penalties for people who
violate the restriction of the medical marijuana law.

Daubert said patients are hoping lawmakers will continue to improve
the law passed by voters in 2004, and make it easier for sick and
suffering Montanans to get the medicine they need. Not the other way around.

"We have a lot of specific goals, but the overarching goal we have
this session is to make the medical marijuana law work for suffering
patients as voters intended," Daubert said.

"Unfortunately under the terms of our law, it is very difficult for
patients to be sure of always having the supply of the medicine they need."