BILL WOULD NIX MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

A prominent Ravalli County Republican lawmaker wants to overturn
Montana's 2004 voter-passed law that legalized medical marijuana,
saying the current scheme controlling prescription pot is fatally
flawed.

Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, on Monday requested a bill to be drafted
for the 2011 Legislature to repeal the marijuana law. Shockley said
he believes marijuana has medical benefits and should remain legal,
only in a much more controlled way.

"It was a good idea, poorly executed," Shockley said Tuesday. "I
wouldn't want everybody growing (prescription painkiller) Percocet,
either."

Some 62 percent of Montana voters approved medical marijuana by
initiative in 2004. It allows Montanans to get certifications from
doctors to buy up to one ounce of marijuana at a time from a licensed
"caregiver." The state has more than 2,700 licensed caregivers,
according to state information, and more than 15,000 citizens with
medical marijuana cards.

The explosive growth in the industry, coupled with a handful of
violent acts involving medical marijuana businesses and growers, has
prompted a crackdown on the industry around the state in recent
months. City councils across Montana have voted to suspend new
business licenses for medical marijuana businesses, and the Salish
and Kootenai Confederated Tribes voted to outlaw medical marijuana
entirely for tribal members on the Flathead Indian
Reservation.

Shockley said the current system has no controls for growing
marijuana, dosage and distribution. He said there's really nothing
stopping cardholders from abusing their marijuana and seeking
constant refills.

There has "been uncontrolled use of the drug," he said. "I think it
breeds lawlessness."

Shockley said an appropriate, controlled system of medical marijuana
was too complicated for the initiative process.

Tom Daubert, of Helena, who headed the drive to legalize medical
marijuana and is now part of a statewide co-op of growers, agreed
Tuesday that the current system has problems, but said it shouldn't
be overturned.

"The law doesn't need to be repealed, but it definitely needs to be
fixed," he said. "I completely agree that all growing and dispensing
needs to be heavily monitored by the state."

Daubert said he supports the work of an interim legislative committee
now looking at ways of regulating the industry. He said some medical
marijuana promoters, namely Jason Crist, founder and executive
director of Missoula's Montana Caregivers Network, are cynically
exploiting flaws in the law.

Crist has been photographed publicly smoking marijuana. His network
runs traveling clinics where people can get medical marijuana cards.

Daubert called those a "factory circus clinic" and said such
"behaviors are nails in the coffin of this law and disrespecting the
genuine needs of worthy patients."

Crist said the network's clinics have driven up the profile of
medical marijuana, but he said they are not a pot
free-for-all.

"What I'm finding is that caregivers are very conscientious," he
said. Caregivers "really want to do everything the right way, which I
attribute to the kindness and compassion of Montanans for fellow
Montanans."

Crist is not a caregiver, but said he has a medical marijuana card to
control hemorrhoid pain associated with Crohn's and celiac disease,
both problems of the gastrointestinal system.