CANNABIS IN THE CAPITOL

Facing an onslaught of new regulation sure to be passed by the 2011
Legislature, Montana's medical marijuana growers and caregivers are
attempting to put a new face on their industry. Business groups, local
governments and the industry itself recognize the "Wild West"
atmosphere of medical marijuana in Montana is about to draw to a
close. And that has these disparate interests bracing for a long 90
days beginning in January fighting for their desired outcome on
medical marijuana rules.

The Montana Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent
Business are busy drafting legislation they say will protect small
business owners against discrimination lawsuits from marijuana users
and clarify where drug tests can be administered. The medical
marijuana industry, meanwhile, is focused on legislation laying out
how many plants and patients are permitted, rules they say could have
a make-or-break effect on their business.

But while established business organizations are familiar with
Helena's corridors of power, most medical marijuana growers and
caregivers are new to navigating the Legislature, and they know they
need to get it right.

This was in evidence at a recent meeting of the Montana Medical
Grower's Association's northwest chapter, in a conference room of
Kalispell's Red Lion Inn, where 22 growers and caregivers gathered to
discuss strategy for the upcoming session, along with how to sway
legislative candidates on their issues. Led by Ed Docter, a co-owner
of Whitefish's Tamarack Dispensary, the monthly meetings are also a
kind of pep rally aimed at motivating those in attendance to testify
and organize in advance of the Legislature.

"We have to play hardball, this is our livelihood; this is a
billion-dollar industry," Docter said. "Let's be realistic and let's
tell these people what our solutions are."

"We've got four months to really pull it together," he added, "to
really pull a good plan together."

Topics of discussion at the meeting included a house near the Capitol
building the MMGA is renting for the session, providing a place to
stay for those who live far from Helena wishing to testify at
early-morning hearings. Docter suggested the group gather enough
signatures to request a specialty license plate for medical marijuana
growers and described a professional-looking pamphlet he was designing
that "looks like a Pfizer brochure."

Docter, 37, spent much of his summer in Helena attending hearings by
the Children, Families, Health and Human Services interim committee as
it worked up the main draft legislation revising the rules regulating
medical marijuana in Montana. It's a bill he believes is modeled too
much after Colorado's regulations.

"It's almost word-for-word the Colorado law," Docter said. "We're in
Montana; we're much more rural."

Montana is too sparsely populated for some of the proposed limits on
patients per caregiver in the bill, according to Docter, and limits on
the amount of marijuana allowed could leave some patients who use
marijuana in tinctures or edible form without enough.

He repeatedly urged the assembled growers and caregivers to contact
legislators and candidates to tout the positive impact they believe
medical marijuana has had on local economies. A detailed list of
candidates' positions, he explained, was available on the Montana
NORML website.

"At least, let them know what's wrong with their way of thinking," he
told the group. "Our economy wouldn't be anywhere where it is right
now without marijuana."

Docter urged those at the meeting to emphasize how much they had spent
at local hardware stores buying material to launch their dispensaries
or grow operations, and lamented what he saw as the position of more
established business organizations, like the NFIB, that medical
marijuana is hurting job growth in Montana.

But Riley Johnson, Montana state director for the NFIB, said his
organization is mainly interested in a separate medical marijuana
bill, currently in draft form, aimed at protecting employers from
being sued if they fire a worker who also legally uses marijuana.

"We're not going to position ourselves to say it's right or wrong,"
Johnson said. "What we would like to see done is to broaden the
current law to make sure small employers are not dragged into
discrimination lawsuits."

"Am I going to go back and try and eliminate the initiative that was
passed? No," Johnson added. "All we want to do is tighten it up for
small businesses so they know exactly what they can do and what they
can't do."

Jon Bennion, government relations director for the Montana Chamber of
Commerce, said medical marijuana has become the top issue for
businesses heading into the 2011 session.

"Nine months ago this was a non-issue, and then it kind of exploded on
the scene," Bennion said. "All of a sudden, people with medical
marijuana cards who are supposed to have debilitating conditions are
in the work force, which the business community was not prepared for."

This second bill, supported by business groups, would also expand the
types of jobs where drug testing is permitted and ensure health
insurance or workers compensation plans don't require paying for
medical marijuana.

A third bill in the works would clarify that Montana's indoor smoking
ban also applies to marijuana. A handful of other bills preliminarily
drafted for the session, are also likely to come forward. A quick scan
of the Legislature's website reveals bill titles like, "Repeal
Legality of Medical Marijuana," by Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, and
"Require Reporting of Complaints on Physician Practices Related to
Medical Marijuana," by Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula.

For his part, Docter said the medical marijuana community is just as
eager as business organizations and local governments to eliminate the
"gray areas" pervading the growing, selling and preparation of
legalized pot in Montana. And he warned those at the September meeting
against becoming discouraged by the harsh words many lawmakers
currently have toward marijuana -- that if they work through the
legislative process, it could result in a system that works for everyone.

"In any industry that's young, you see all of this," Docter said.
"It's going to be awesome. Trust me. Maybe."