MEDICAL MARIJUANA QUESTIONS IN LIBBY

The Libby City Council dodged a bullet this spring when a new medical
marijuana dispensary took up shop 40 feet outside the city limits.

Serious discussions on the matter have begun again, however, now that
a new dispensary opened in the city center last month.

The council's main concern reflects that of municipals across the
state. Marijuana is recognized for its medicinal purposes in the State
of Montana but not at the federal level. A medical marijuana
enterprise is in conflict with the city's business license ordinance,
which states that businesses must follow all local, state and federal
laws.

The council recently approved a business license for the Helping
Center of Libby because of what councilmembers say was intentionally
omitted information. "Pain clinic" was filled in under the "type of
business" section.

"When you put pain clinic, that could mean a lot of things," Mayor
Doug Roll said. "When you don't specify that it's a medical marijuana
dispensary, that's not being truthful on the business license."

The company's director, Kevin Moore, who heads up affiliated
dispensaries in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Bigfork -- all part of
the Helping Centers of Montana -- said that he was completely
transparent through the process of opening the new clinic on
California Avenue, including on the application.

"Well, we disclosed that when we got our business license, that we
were medical marijuana caregivers, that we were in the health industry
and that's what we did," he said.

He cites a discussion he had with councilmembers Bill Bischoff and
Robin Benson months ago about the possibility of opening a dispensary
in town. After describing the professional way in which his other
dispensaries were operated, he said that they "were fine with it."

Bischoff and Benson, however, remember a different conversation. Moore
approached them while they were working their day jobs at the Lincoln
County courthouse.

"I told him he needed to come and talk to the council about it and he
never did," Benson said. "aE& We never got into any details about what
they can and cannot do. It was just an introduction."

Bischoff recalls telling Moore that the council had not passed a
moratorium on marijuana dispensaries. The exchange was so uneventful
that Bischoff didn't associate Moore with the business license
application that came in months later.

"It was about a two-minute conversation on the steps of the
courthouse," he said.

Chief of Police Jim Smith informed the mayor of the dispensary after
taking notice of the marijuana leaf logo on the window of the
business, which is located one block from the sheriff's office and two
blocks from Asa Wood Elementary School. The mayor put the issue in the
resolution and ordinance committee during last week's council meeting.

"Technically, at this point, they are in violation by that statute,"
Roll said, "but I want you guys to take a look at it and come up with
your interpretation."

The council has shied away from regulating the business in hopes that
it wouldn't surface again until state legislators clarify the Medical
Marijuana Act or until there is a court precedent for municipals to
rely on. Local state representative Jerry Bennett gave his input at
last week's meeting.

"I don't know how your ordinances read, but I know some cities have
placed a moratorium until the legislature comes to some sort of order
on this," he said. "Others have come out with an outright ban within
city limits until such time as they can deal with it."

The mayor and council are wary of the City of Libby becoming the
subject of a lawsuit.

"The City of Helena right now is in a lawsuit with the medical
marijuana folks because they're business license is exactly like
ours," Roll said, "which is why I'm a little hesitant."

Helena medical marijuana provider Paul Schmidt filed suit last month
to contest the city's ban. He claims that a municipal doesn't have the
right to regulate the trade because it falls under the jurisdiction of
the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

While there are people who benefit from medical marijuana, Bennett
argued, there are clearly many more who abuse it. He said there are
23,613 cardholders in Montana and as of May, 586 were in Lincoln County.

"It's estimated that only 5 percent of the people that have a medical
marijuana card are your cancer patients, your MS patients," he added.
"The rest of them are 21 to 30 years old. It's a problem. If the
legislature can't screw this thing down, I would encourage you to get
every voter out to repeal this law."

For now, the Helping Center of Libby operates legally with a city
business license. There has been some talk of zoning dispensaries into
Libby's medical district and away from schools and daycares, but the
ordinance committee had not yet met on the matter as of Monday.

Moore said that the Helping Centers of Montana, which will soon add
clinics in Eureka, Whitefish, Cut Bank and Glasgow, are operated
strictly by the letter of the law and that each clinic's location is
chosen strategically.

"All of our locations, we're either in the medical corridor or we like
to be close to the courthouse, you know, the sheriff's department," he
said. "That's the reason we picked the location that we're at."

Libby's dispensary has an unassuming storefront and is open during
normal business hours. The store manager, a local who is not a medical
marijuana patient herself, greets customers at the counter and will
only allow registered cardholders in the backroom to fill their
prescription. All of the Helping Centers strictly forbid patients from
opening their prescriptions within 1,000 feet of the facility. They
strongly encourage patients to wait until they are home to ingest the
drug.

Moore said that the dispensary is a clean business offering a
legitimate need in the community.

"We had a number of patients in Libby that were being inconvenienced
in driving all the way to our Kalispell store," he said. "When they're
handicapped it's difficult for them and we certainly can't afford to
be driving medicine 90 miles to a few patients in Libby, so it was a
natural transition for us to open up a location there."