CLEAR UP VAGUE MARIJUANA LAW

Lawmakers Need to Fine-Tune Law to Rein in 'Chaos'

So it begins.

The Montana Board of Medical Examiners has announced - belatedly if
you ask us, but nobody did - the end to free passes for the
assembly-line docs who recommend medical marijuana.

From now on, the board says, such physicians - many of them from out
of state, who staff the traveling "cannabis caravan" clinics and who
write recommendations for as many as 400 "patients" per day - can be
cited for substandard care.

It's a start.

So are suggestions by Victor Sen. Jim Shockley, who wants to repeal
the 2004 voter initiative that legalized medical marijuana, and Rep.
Dave Lewis of Helena, who seeks a single, state-licensed grower for
the entire state.

So is the work by the legislative Children, Families, Health and
Human Services Interim Committee, which is working to craft laws to
deal with Montana's out-of-control medical marijuana situation.

We won't detail that situation again here. You can read about it in
the series that's running this weekend.

Suffice it to say that Rep. Diane Sands of Missoula, who chairs the
committee, sounds uncharacteristically understated when she terms it "chaos."

Although several ideas have been bandied about, only one bill -
Shockley's - has actually been drafted.

We like some of the suggestions we've heard, both from the committee
hearing and also from other states grappling with the issue (See Page 1 story).

Colorado, for instance, is on the verge of requiring state regulation
of medical marijuana dispensaries, with fees that would cover the
costs. Oregon voters will likely see an initiative to create
nonprofit state-licensed dispensaries. That would certainly end the
clinic-on-every-corner phenomenon.

And we agree with Shockley that medical marijuana shouldn't be banned
outright - the voters approved its use, after all - but we're just as
queasy as he is with the de-facto overall legalization that seems to
have occurred. Repealing the original law might not be the best way
to go, but we'll back measures to hold that law to its original intent.

Whatever Sands' committee comes up with, we hope it schedules as many
hearings as it takes to enable members to walk into the Capitol on
Jan. 3 with a set of well-crafted bills in hand, legislation so
airtight that it can be approved and signed into law as quickly as
legislatively possible.

Generally, we're in favor of taking more time, not less, when it
comes to controversial issues. But here's our advice to lawmakers:

Work fast.

Because we've got a long, smoky season ahead of us and we're not
talking forest fires.