SENATOR PUSHES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATION, NOT REPEAL

Saying the Senate lacks the votes to repeal the state's medical
marijuana law, the chairman of its Judiciary Committee said Friday say
he'll soon appoint a subcommittee to work on a bill to better regulate
the industry.

Chairman Terry Murphy, R-Cardwell, told senators at a Judiciary
Committee meeting that he will pick the subcommittee members in the
next couple of days.

"I think it's the only way to go on this so we can have an alternative
ready to the repeal bill," Murphy said in an interview after the meeting.

His committee has scheduled a March 11 hearing on House Bill 161, by
House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, which would repeal the state's
voter-approved medical marijuana law on July 1. Milburn's bill has
already passed the House.

"If the vote were today, I don't think repeal would happen in the
Senate," Murphy said.

The senator said it's imperative that the Legislature do something
this year.

"What's going to have to be faced before we go home is either we have
to pass something or we have two more years of what we have now," he
said. "That should be a pretty strong selling point. We could have
78,000 (medical marijuana) cardholders by then."

As of Feb. 28, the state had 28,739 people authorized to use medical
marijuana. That's up from 2,074 in March 2009 and 12,081 in March
2010, according to state statistics.

Murphy said he would like the subcommittee to amend an existing bill
rather than draft a new committee bill. He wasn't sure which bill the
subcommittee would work on, but said HB429, by Rep. Tom Berry,
R-Roundup, has the broadest title to work with. Berry's bill hasn't
passed the House yet.

By 62 percent to 38 percent, Montanans passed a 2004 initiative to
legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Interviewed later, Milburn acknowledged his repeal bill faces hurdles
in the Senate Judiciary Committee and possibly the full Senate.

"I think that unless I can persuade some people during my testimony
that it's going to have a difficult time in the Senate Judiciary
Committee," he said. "I'm not giving up hope. Things change daily,
attitudes of where people are on it, but I do know it's going to be
difficult."

However, he said the full Senate, by a simple majority vote, can blast
out a bill tied up in committee to the full Senate.

As for the full Senate, Milburn said it's going to be "very, very
close" to get his repeal bill out of that chamber.

Still, Milburn said he's hopeful that senators' attitudes on the bill
might change once they hear what's happening with medical marijuana in
Montana. That's what happened in the House, he said.

"I think it may change over there too when they hear the testimony not
only from myself, but from other people coming in," the House speaker
said. "It has drawn national attention and national attention's coming
from a lot of states and law enforcement and all of that."

Milburn said he doesn't disagree with Murphy's strategy, provided
senators put "extremely strict restrictions" in whatever regulation
bill the Senate subcommittee works on.

He said Berry's HB429, which was pulled from the House floor for
debate Friday, will be returned to the House Human Services Committee
for amendments. Milburn said he expects that committee to amend
portions of HB68, by Rep. Diane Sands, into Berry's bill.

Sands' bill has had a committee hearing, but the House Human Services
Committee has not yet voted on it. She introduced the bill on behalf
of an interim legislative committee that studied the medical marijuana
issue last year.