HOUSE PANEL ENDORSES REPEAL OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

HELENA - The House Human Services Committee voted 10-5 Friday to
repeal Montana's 2004 voter-passed bill legalizing the use of medical
marijuana.

All of the committee's 10 Republicans voted for House Bill 161, by
House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade. All five Democrats opposed it.

The bill now heads to the House floor for debate Tuesday, barring any
last-minute scheduling changes.

"I am pleased to see the Human Services Committee supports this
incredibly important bill, and I look forward to it passing the full
House of Representatives next week," Milburn said.

The sharply divided committee debated the bill for less than a
half-hour before voting.

"This is an initiative that has gone horribly wrong," said Rep. Cary
Smith, R-Billings. "This is not what the people voted for."

Smith said he was appointed to serve on an ad hoc committee by the
Billings City Council to deal with the consequences of the explosive
growth of medical marijuana in recent years. The city has faced
problems with medical marijuana storefronts located in front of
schools and churches, he said.

"We need to turn this thing off and start over," Smith said.

As of December 2010, more than 27,000 people in Montana have been
authorized to use medical marijuana, an increase of 20,000
cardholders from December 2009.

Rep. Pat Noonan, D-Butte, opposed the bill.

"I have a rule that I don't vote against anything that's voted on by
the voters," he said. "If we really want to repeal, I think the
voters should do it."

In 2004, Montana voters passed the initiative by 62 percent to 38 percent.

Rep. Michael More, R-Gallatin Gateway, acknowledged that he had voted
for the measure, thinking it would be just to help people with
debilitating diseases.

"There was an element of wishful naivete on the part of those who
voted this in," More said.

But the state has instead had to deal with far-reaching consequences
of the initiative, including what More called "an element of
licentiousness in the culture" under the law.

Rep. Ellie Hill, D-Missoula, criticized the repeal bill, saying that
opponents of HB161 outnumbered its supporters by 3-to-1 at the
hearing earlier this week.

"There was a lot of talk that this has increased crime rates," she
said. "I didn't hear anyone with evidence."

Milburn doesn't accept the fact that marijuana works as medicine, she
said, despite legislators hearing from people, including some in
wheelchairs, testifying that it has helped treat their health problems.

The Missoula lawmaker said she has heard from thousands of people who
support medical marijuana but want the Legislature to enact some
sideboards to the bill. She urged lawmakers to instead consider the
bipartisan measure approved by a legislative interim committee, House
Bill 68, by Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, which would add regulations.

"They don't think the current law is what people voted for," she
said. "They voted for safe access to medical marijuana. They want us
to put some training wheels on."

Tom Daubert, an author and campaign manager for the 2004 initiative,
criticized the committee action.

"For legislators who rejected proposals to improve the law in '07 and
'09 to now rush to repeal rather than to fix a compassionate policy
passed by the people in record numbers is a tragedy for patients and
an insult to the Montana values of freedom and democracy," said
Daubert, who heads a group called Patients & Families United.
"Consensus solutions to the law's problems exist. But redefining
thousands of suffering Montanans as criminals is not a solution, nor
is it morally justifiable."

Besides Sands' HB68, there is another major medical marijuana bill,
Senate Bill 154, by Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, that would also set up
state licensing and regulation of the medical marijuana businesses.
Sands' bill would impose licensing fees to pay for the regulation,
while Lewis' measure would levy a tax.