MEDICAL POT LEGISLATION IS NECESSARY

It took a few headlines around the state about how local communities
were coping with the explosion in the use and sale of medical
marijuana, but some Montana lawmakers are finally getting serious
about regulating this burgeoning industry at the state level.

On Tuesday, a legislative committee in Helena voted to OK proposed
medical marijuana regulations that will be sent to the Legislature in
January.

The committee has done its work well.

Among other things, the new regulations will list the diseases
eligible for medical marijuana treatment, require two doctors to sign
off on marijuana prescriptions for pain relief, make driving under the
influence of marijuana illegal, create stricter regulations for those
who grow or sell marijuana and extend the state's indoor smoking ban
to marijuana.

These are all reasonable measures that will go a long way to address
the concerns of small communities, concerns about the number and
locations of medical marijuana sales and production outlets. Local
government officials - including many here in Gallatin County - have
struggled to keep outlets away from schools and churches and to stem
the rising numbers of these new businesses.

Although members of this new industry participated in the crafting of
the new legislation, they have decried the proposed regulations as too
draconian and say they will lobby against passage in the whole
Legislature.

This will be a mistake.

Given the ease with which people were procuring the so-called "green
cards" that permit them to possess and use marijuana, something had to
be done. Some 23,500 people had been issued cards by the end of July,
an exponential increase from the few thousand issued as of last year.

If the proliferation of the cards is to continue unabated, the total
decriminalization of marijuana would be the net effect. And that's not
what Montanans voted for when they legalized the use of medical
marijuana in 2004.

The proposed legislation will not only restrict the over-prescription
and dangerous use of medical marijuana, it will add some legitimacy to
this new facet of Montana life. And that will be a good thing for
everyone, including those who grow and dispense this new medical treatment.