MARIJUANA REPEAL STALLS IN SENATE

A controversial bill that would repeal Montana's 2004 voter initiative
permitting medical marijuana stalled Monday in a Senate committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked 6-6 on a motion to pass
House Bill 161, sponsored by House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade.
Until Monday, the bill had seen relatively clear sailing, passing the
House last month.

Five Republicans senators voted in favor of the bill, and were joined
by Sen. Larry Jent, a Democrat of Bozeman. Four Democrats and two
Republican -- Sens. Chas Vincent of Libby and Terry Murphy of Cardwell
- -- opposed the bill.

After the vote, Murphy, the chairman of the committee, appointed a
three-member subcommittee to work on a bill to regulate the state's
burgeoning medical marijuana industry. Other bills remain in the
hopper that also would accomplish that end.