MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROVIDERS GET LICENSES

Butte-Silver Bow has issued business licenses to two men apparently
planning to become the city-county's first medical marijuana providers.

The planning office confirmed Friday that Mark Gibbons and David
Liddick received separate business licenses to sell medical marijuana in Butte.

Gibbons did not return a telephone message seeking comment. Liddick
reserved comment until after he had details of his business worked out.

According to records filed in the planning office, Gibbons plans to
cultivate and distribute medical marijuana. He lists a business
address of 201 Continental Drive, which is in an industrial area
located across the street from the Berkeley Pit viewing stand.

Liddick, who listed a Whitehall address, filed a business license
under the name "Natural Healing Products" as a licensed medical
cannabis distributor. He listed a business address in a commercial
zone at 2455 Harrison Ave., said assistant planning director Steve Hess.

In November 2004, Montana voters overwhelmingly adopted Initiative
148, which allows certain patients with specific medical conditions
to alleviate their symptoms with the limited use of marijuana under
medical supervision, according to the Montana Department of Public
Health and Human Services.

The law allows qualified patients and their caregivers to grow and/or
possess a restricted number of marijuana plants, the agency's Web site states.

It states that a qualifying patient and that patient's caregiver may
not possess more than six marijuana plants and one ounce of usable
marijuana each.

The planning office turned down a business license to another person
who sought to operate as a medical marijuana provider in a
residential area, Hess said.

"We just didn't see where it fit into the home occupation code," he said.

Butte-Silver Bow zoning laws don't include provisions for growing and
distributing medical marijuana, yet businesses with customers coming
and going are commonly located in commercial or industrial zones.