MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL ADVANCES BY ONE VOTE

By a single vote, the state Senate Saturday endorsed a bill designed
to give medical-marijuana patients easier access to the drug they say
relieves agonizing pain for a range of chronic diseases.

"This is not about getting high," Sen. Steve Gallus, D-Butte, said as
he tried to convince fellow senators to vote for the bill. "It's
about medicine. It's about access to health care. If you have just a
little bit of courage and a whole bunch of compassion, you can
realize this is a health care issue."

The 25-24 vote in favor of Senate Bill 326 sets up a final, binding
vote early next week in the Senate, which could send the measure on
to the House or possibly kill it, if a few votes change.

Five Republicans - Sens. Dave Lewis of Helena, Jerry Black of Shelby,
Terry Murphy of Cardwell, John Brueggeman of Polson and Bruce
Tudtvedt of Kalispell - joined 20 Democrats in voting for the measure.

Two Democrats - Sens. Ken Hansen of Harlem and Sharon Stewart-Peregoy
of Crow Agency - joined 22 Republicans against it. Democratic Sen.
Larry Jent of Bozeman was out of town and not present for the vote.

SB326, sponsored by Sen. Ron Erickson, D-Missoula, makes several
changes to the medical-marijuana law that Montana voters put into
place by initiative in 2004.

It increases the amount of marijuana that a patient or "caregiver"
can possess from one ounce to three ounces; allows patients to get
the drug from more than one licensed caregiver; allows licensed
growers to have six "mature" plants rather than just six plants; and
adds some additional medical conditions or diseases that can be
legally treated by marijuana, such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes
and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Erickson said the bill makes practical changes in the program so it
will work better for those who need it.

He told of a medical-marijuana patient who lives near Broadus in
rural, southeastern Montana, who often runs out of the drug because
of the restrictions of the current program.

Right now, she has to have someone drive 200 miles to Miles City to
get a single ounce from her designated caregiver, who doesn't always
have enough supply, Erickson said.

"Pain is not partisan; pain is not political," he said. "If you had
heard the people (testify) whose pain has been relieved, you would
say yes (to the bill)."

Opponents raise several objections, including that SB326 takes the
medical-marijuana program well beyond what voters chose in 2004.

"This is a very large expansion of something that the people of
Montana never expected," said Sen. Roy Brown, R-Billings. "This isn't
what the people of Montana voted for."

Others worried about a line in the bill that said no one can be fired
from a job or kicked out of a rental home solely for being a licensed
medical-marijuana caregiver or patient.

And some simply objected to expanding a program that provides a drug
still illegal under most circumstances.

"I believe it's a nightmare for law enforcement in the making, and I
do not want to see this state completely go to pot," said Sen. Greg
Hinkle, R-Thompson Falls.

Erickson said if the bill gets to the House, he would consider
amendments to address worries over the employment and rental language.

But the most compelling remarks Saturday came from those whose
friends or relatives had used marijuana to relieve horrible pain - or
could have used it.

Sen. Murphy, one of the five Republicans who voted for the bill, told
of his father, who died from cancer in his 50s and in his last year
of life could rarely eat because of constant nausea and pain.

"When I realized what these people were talking about, and thinking
that we now have this knowledge of what this natural plant product
can do to relieve people, I can only wish that we'd had this
knowledge a half-century ago," he said. "If you had a loved one or
watched what my dad went through you wouldn't want to hinder (those
who need it) from getting it."