MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGISLATION: REVISE IT, DON'T REPEAL IT

There is no doubt that interest among lawmakers is high in revamping
or tossing Montana's voter-passed medical marijuana law.

At least 10 bills are alive at present, and hearings are scheduled
today and tomorrow on a couple of them.

The proposal that's gotten the most attention is House Speaker Mike
Milburn's bill repealing the medical marijuana authorization that
voters approved by a sizable margin a little more than six years ago.

The measure passed through its first vote in the House mostly along
party lines with Republicans backing their leader's proposal, but was
re-referred to a different committee for further consideration.

Some Republicans in the Senate have been openly supporting legislation
that we, too, endorse, much more rigidly regulating the medical
marijuana industry in the state.

That has, in fact, been the problem with the 2004 voter initiative. It
legalized medicinal use of cannabis for certain purposes, but put in
place nothing in the way of regulation.

Subsequent legislative sessions failed to emplace regulations, with
the result that a free-form version of a medical pot industry sprouted
in the state after the federal law enforcement leaders decided they
would not interfere with that use of the drug.

And that has resulted in legal and business issues that have left many
Montanans - law enforcement officials, educators and business
operators - scratching their heads.

The simplest solution is Milburn's, or a similar one in the Senate,
repealing the law.

That, however, ignores the real good that the legalization has
accomplished for thousands of Montanans with pain and other issues
that are quickly and easily mitigated by marijuana.

It also ignores the will of the voters - always a risky business in
Montana.

The better path would be passage of several bills that would tighten
restrictions on the industry and the patients who benefit from the use
of cannabis.

For example, a hearing is scheduled Friday before the House Human
Services Committee on HB488, which would drastically limit the
locations in which medical marijuana could be used, including
prohibiting it in the presence of children.

Other measures further restricting medicinal pot include:

. Raising the bar on documentation required to get a card allowing
marijuana use (SB170, heard but no vote yet);

. Requiring a warning label on marijuana sold for medicinal purposes
(HB389, passed House committee earlier this week);

. Requiring annual Board of Medical Examiners reviews and reports on
complaints about doctors prescribing the drug (HB82, passed the House
on Tuesday);

. Clarifying and strengthening employers' rights in the area of testing
workers (HB43, which also has passed the House); and

. Expanding Montana's Indoor Clean Air Act to include the smoking of
marijuana (HB19, passed the House and already has been unanimously
concurred by the Senate Health, Welfare and Safety Committee).

Two other bills would repeal the 2004 initiative. One is SB334, which
is effectively a Senate version of Milburn's bill, and it's on hold at
the sponsor's request. The other, HB175, would provide for a new
public vote on repealing the medical pot law.

A hearing is set today in the Senate Judiciary Committee on one more
bill - SB336 - that would, in fact, expand potential uses of marijuana
to include patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

As we said, the straight repeal bill has gotten most of the attention,
but the better option - and one on which lawmakers have been moving in
a parallel course - is imposing tighter regulation on this budding
health care business.