STATE PHARMACISTS PUT KIBOSH ON CANNABIS

HELENA -- Montana's professional pharmacists say they don't want to get
into the medical marijuana business, scuttling the suggestion that
lawmakers could firm up Montana's controversial pot scene by making
pharmacists dispense the drug.

The Montana Pharmacy Association adopted a resolution at its June 5
meeting stating that professional pharmacists will not support
dispensing cannabis until medical research proves the drug is
effective and adequate dosing guidelines are established.

The resolution further stated there is currently no accepted medical
use for marijuana, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
and that marijuana is still considered an illegal drug by the federal
government.

"As such, it is still against federal law for Montana pharmacies to
dispense or even have marijuana in their stores," said Tony King, a
Missoula pharmacist and newly elected chairman of the Montana Pharmacy
Association.

The association is the trade group and political action committee
representing pharmacies, pharmacists and some pharmacy
technicians.

Pharmacists are allowed to dispense only those drugs approved by the
FDA, King said. FDA drug approval is a long process in which
drug-makers must show scientific proof that their drug works to treat
certain conditions. The same process establishes patient dosing
recommendations.

Marijuana has not been through the FDA approval process, King said,
and is considered illegal in all instances by federal law.

Pharmacists run afoul of federal law when they dispense any
nonapproved drug, he said, to say nothing of selling outright illegal
ones.

"We'd come under the scrutiny of the FDA and the (Drug Enforcement
Agency) at that point," he said.

King said the untested nature of using pot for medicine raises other
concerns.

"For lack of a better word, it's a crapshoot," he said.

Some 62 percent of voters in 2005 approved legalizing possession and
use of small amounts of marijuana for medical purposes. Medical
marijuana is dispensed by "caregivers" licensed by the state to
Montanans with a doctor's recommendation.

Use of medical marijuana in Montana exploded after the Obama
administration announced last October it would not enforce federal
drug laws on people using medical marijuana in accordance with the
laws in their states.

Fourteen states, including Montana, have legalized medical
marijuana.

More than 16,000 Montanans have so-called "green cards" allowing them
to use medical marijuana. More than 2,500 people obtained their cards
in May alone, according to the state Department of Public Health and
Human Services, which administers Montana's medical marijuana program.

Montana's law has come under fire recently as pot businesses began
sprouting up more visibly and violence related to medical marijuana
erupted, most notably last month when two cannabis storefronts in
Billings were firebombed.

Last month, state Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, proposed drafting a law
for the 2011 Legislature to put pharmacists in charge of selling the
drug, among other things.

Lewis' pharmacy plan seemed to draw support in some circles, as it has
been repeated by other lawmakers and candidates as a possible solution.

But Lewis said Thursday he's already abandoned the
druggist-as-dope-seller idea.

"I talked to my own druggist," he said. "And he said, 'We just can't
do it.'"

Lewis now has a new plan, which he is still working on in anticipation
of next January's legislative session. The outline looks like this:

The state would own Montana's medical marijuana and would contract out
growing to one or more growers. In order to sell marijuana, caregivers
would need a license from the state through a system modeled on
Montana's liquor license system. Caregivers would only get as much
marijuana as their clients require.

The number of caregiver licenses would be limited and based on
population and population growth, similar to Montana's liquor
licensing program.

However, caregivers would not have a property right in their medical
marijuana license, meaning they couldn't buy or sell them or borrow
against them, as is the case with liquor licenses.

"Otherwise, you'd end up with the same thing we've got with liquor,"
Lewis said, a system which he admits "has always driven me crazy."

With the state controlling growing and selling, Lewis said, Montana
could "plug the leaks" of medical marijuana and keep the current
system from being abused.