MAN SUING CITY OF CASCADE OVER MARIJUANA DISPENSARY MORATORIUM, SAID
HE WAS TARGETED

A man who owns four medical marijuana dispensaries in Cascade is
suing the town over a moratorium on such businesses.

The town passed the moratorium in June.

Leon Tirums of Cascade filed a suit Aug. 18 in Cascade County
District Court, alleging that town officials used the ordinance to
target him specifically and to revoke one of his business licenses.
The filing sets forth nine allegations against the town, including
that one of his licenses was unfairly revoked despite language in the
ordinance protecting dispensaries registered prior to the law taking effect.

Ordinance 571, which was adopted by the Cascade Town Council on June
9, sets a temporary moratorium on any new businesses that would
distribute marijuana for medical use and directs the city's planning
board to study the effects of those businesses within six months of
the ordinance's adoption.

The ordinance justifies the moratorium by referencing state laws,
which state that a municipality can adopt temporary zoning
restrictions for health and safety, if there is an urgent matter.
Tirums' lawyer, Mark Frisbie of Great Falls, argued that there was no
urgency when the ordinance was adopted, making it inconsistent with
state law. Tirums' business that had its license revoked is only 200
feet from the local bar, Frisbie said.

"Compared to a bar, compared to a casino ... we don't think that
Leon's business is any more harmful or as harmful as those other
businesses that are allowed to operate," Frisbie said.

Representatives from the town of Cascade declined to comment Tuesday.

Calling the law a "witch hunt," Frisbie alleged that the town
unlawfully directed the ordinance at Tirums. Although he acknowledged
that there is no language in the ordinance suggesting that, Frisbie
said the timing of the ordinance was suspect. Cascade has had plenty
of time to pass a moratorium since the Medical Marijuana Act passed
in 2004, he said, but it instead passed it on the same day the town
revoked Tirums' license.

"It doesn't seem very logical to me, and it doesn't seem very legal
either," Frisbie said.

The suit includes a transcript of a closed meeting between the town
council and Tirums on the day the ordinance passed in which the
council revoked his license. Tirums filed the license in January,
before the moratorium took effect.

The transcript states that the council rescinded his license because
he was not following a provision in state law that prohibits
caregivers from being users. Tirums then said he had a prescription
to use medical marijuana, to which council members responded that no
provision in state law made it legal for caregivers to also use
medical marijuana.

Tirums continues to operate three other medical marijuana
dispensaries in Cascade -- Electric City Caregivers, Great Falls
Cannabis and Cascade County Caregivers. Only the license for Montana
Homegrown was revoked.

Frisbie said his client is asking the court to either declare
Ordinance 571 null and void, or let Tirums continue operating Montana
Homegrown under the license that was revoked. A court hearing has not
yet been scheduled.