GROUP TO RUN ADS ON REPEALING MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

A Billings group is launching a $20,000 weeklong, statewide television
advertising campaign to ask Montanans to urge their state senators and
Gov. Brian Schweitzer to support repealing Montana's 2004 law
legalizing medical marijuana.

The ad will be taped today and will begin running on Tuesday. It will
feature some kids talking about marijuana getting into schools.

Cherrie Brady of Billings heads the group, Safe Community, Safe Kids,
which is running the advertising campaign.

Brady said the theme of the TV ad is that "our kids are in trouble and
that medical marijuana has penetrated the schools."

"Schools are pretty much under a gag order," she added. "We're hoping
to expose a little of what's going on in schools."

Brady said school officials have told her privately that there's so
much excess medical marijuana in Montana that kids are selling it all
over schools and that some kids are prostituting themselves to obtain
it. Law enforcement officials have told her that they can't police the
use of marijuana in the schools because it's often consumed in
brownies and candy, she said.

"It's crossing boundaries," she said. "It's not just the bad kids.
They have star athletes (using marijuana too)."

The House, on a preliminary, 63-37 vote last week, passed House Bill
161, by Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, which would repeal the
state's voter-passed medical marijuana law. It is expected to face a
final House vote soon before heading to the Senate.

There are also several other key bills that would keep medical
marijuana legal, but institute a more comprehensive licensing and
regulatory system.

The ad will direct people to the group's website, http://safecommt.org
, where they can find links to contact their state senators and
Schweitzer, who has not said where he stands on repealing the law.

Steve Zabawa, owner of a Billings car dealership, said the Safe
Community, Safe Kids has already has raised the money for the
advertising.

Both Zabawa and Brady said the TV ad is timed to reach Montanans
around the time their legislators are on their midsession break. They
will recess on Feb. 24 and return to the Capitol on March 1. During
that break, many lawmakers return to their home districts and meet
with their constituents at town meetings and other gatherings.

The group also is setting up phone banks to make calls to community
leaders in senators' districts and to ask them to contact their key
constituents to see what they think is the best approach to address
medical marijuana -- repealing the law, regulating the industry or
taxing the industry, Zabawa said.

"Most of the state in my opinion doesn't know that medical marijuana
can be repealed," he said.

He said he favors repealing the law, having the state study the issue
thoroughly and then possibly passing another law that would put up
strict parameters to restrict the use of medical marijuana. The state
needs to get the federal Food and Drug Administration involved, he
said.

"Repeal's the deal," Zabawa said. "We hope to get that
accomplished."

Safe Community, Safe Kids, launched an 11th hour campaign last summer
to put an initiative on 2010 ballot to repeal the medical marijuana.
The group obtained more than 19,000 signatures in a week, but failed
by 5,000 signatures to qualify it for the ballot.