CITY TELLS POT STORE TO RELOCATE

The Libby City Council voted Tuesday to give a medical marijuana
dispensary 60 days to relocate outside the city limits.

In response, one of its main investors promised litigation.

"I'm already losing money in this business, but I'll lose more money
if I have to defend my patients," said Kevin Moore, investor and
former director of a group of medical marijuana dispensaries, The
Helping Centers of Montana.

The Helping Center of Libby doesn't meet one of the requirements of a
city business license, the council said, because it violates federal
law, which reads that medical marijuana is illegal.

Moore argued that the council shouldn't worry about repercussions
from the federal government since the Obama Administration has
clearly stated that it would not prosecute medical marijuana users
who comply with state law.

Mayor Doug Roll pointed out many times throughout the meeting that
the merits of medical marijuana and whether it's legal were not at
issue. Roll said the special meeting was to determine whether the
dispensary met all of the requirements to possess a city business license.

Councilmembers say they unknowingly approved a business license for
the enterprise this past fall because the application did not
explicitly state it was a medical marijuana provider, but a "pain clinic."

The council hopes that a ruling will soon come back in a similar case
in district court between the City of Helena and a medical marijuana provider.

Sleeping Giant Caregivers is alleging that a city cannot impose
restrictions on a business that is regulated by the state Department
of Health and Human Services. If Sleeping Giant wins the case, the
Libby council may revisit its decision before two months is up.

"If Helena wins, we're on good grounds (for rescinding the license),"
councilmember Bill Bischoff said. "If not, we haven't caused any
damage -- they're still in business."

However, the council didn't schedule any future meetings about the matter.

"You're putting me in a difficult position because I don't know if
I'm supposed to be packing up after 59 days," Moore said. "I'm simply
not going to do it. After 59 days I'm going to file an injunction."

Moore said that the business is providing a legitimate service to the
citizens of Libby. He stated that he is "$300,000 in the hole" as one
of the original investors of Libby's dispensary and other regional
dispensaries, but that he keeps them operating for the well-being of patients.

Moore suggested not making a decision that night, but having the city
attorney and the Helping Center's legal counsel come up with a mutual
solution. The Helping Center of Kalispell, for example, was
grandfathered in until its building lease is up because it began
operating before the City of Kalispell enacted a moratorium on
dispensaries, he said.

"Let us stay for the remainder of our lease and we'll move outside
the city limits after that," Moore requested, adding that the
one-year lease agreement for the building on California Avenue ends
in October 2011.

The vote to suspend the business license passed 4-2, with
councilmembers D.C. Orr and Peggy Williams opposed. Orr argued that
there was no reason to suspend or revoke the license when it would be
up for renewal at the beginning of the year.

"I think revoking a license that we've already given is weak legal
grounds when we're just weeks away from issuing a new license," he
said. "In those ensuing weeks, we may have a decision out of Helena
which mirrors the situation we have here, which may save our
taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees."

He asked that the council leave its ego at the door and take time to
seek more legal counsel on the matter.

"Wouldn't discretion be the better part of valor at this point?" Orr
asked. "We've got the Helping Center saying we're willing to
negotiate with you. Why go to litigation right off the bat when maybe
we still have a chance to iron this one out?"

The Helping Centers of Montana is a group of eight
separately-registered S corporations. The medical marijuana clinics
are operating in Kalispell, Libby, Bigfork and Columbia Falls, with
new clinics in Eureka, Whitefish, Cut Bank and Glasgow on the horizon.

Rhonda McDowell-Rowen, the secretary and treasurer, recently replaced
Moore as director of the Helping Centers.

Upon council questioning, Moore said that the corporations have both
in-state and out-of-state shareholders, including a local investor from Troy.