BILL TO REPEAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVANCES IN SENATE

HELENA -- The Senate voted 29-21 on Thursday to repeal Montana's
medical marijuana law after an emotion-charged debate marked by angry
political finger pointing by senators from both sides.

After debating for more than an hour, the Senate finally gave
preliminary approval to House Bill 161, by Speaker Mike Milburn,
R-Cascade, to repeal the state's controversial medical marijuana law
on July 1. The Senate will take a final vote on the bill Friday.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate voted 36-14 to send SB423, which would
repeal and overhaul the medical marijuana law, to the House floor
after it stalled in Senate Wednesday. Because it missed a key
deadline, SB423 now will take a two-thirds majority vote in the House
to suspend the bill.

Milburn said he will ask the House GOP majority to suspend the rules
and take up SB423 as a second option to the repeal bill he prefers.

During the debate on HB161, Sen. Rowlie Hutton, R-Havre, said he has
been asked as a pastor to participate in interventions for people
addicted to marijuana. He called for making medical marijuana illegal
again.

"This is completely out of control up and down the Hi-Line," Hutton
said, adding: "Sometimes the most compassionate answer you can give is
no, you don't need this."

But Sen. Ron Erickson, D-Missoula, urged senators to re-read all the
emails they've been receiving from Montanans on the issue.

"Over and over and over, people were in terrible shape in their lives
until 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, whenever they began to use medical
marijuana," he said. "What they are begging us is to be allowed to
live because this herb has helped them."

Sen. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, who said he was a cancer survivor, said
Montana's medical marijuana system is out of control, with nearly
30,000 cardholders, marijuana growers and caregivers.

"There are a lot of people using medicine, Sen. Erickson, but there
are also a lot of people smoking pot," Wittich said.

Soon, however, the debate boiled over to what happened on the Senate
floor Wednesday.

Republicans said Democrats left them with no choice but to vote for
repeal after refusing to give the GOP majority the votes it needed for
a two-thirds majority to suspend the rules to vote on SB423.

Democrats tried to broker a deal Wednesday to provide Republicans with
enough votes in exchange for GOP votes for a $97.8 million bonding
bill that also takes a two-thirds majority. Republicans, however,
refused and criticized the Democrats' effort.

Sen. Taylor Brown, R-Huntley, chided Democrats for blocking the rules
waiver Wednesday.

"I've heard said here tonight that we shouldn't play games," Brown
said. "Well, I would like to know what happened yesterday if that
wasn't games that were played yesterday."

Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte, fired back, calling this the "by far the
worst session" he's experienced in the minority. He talked about
Democrats' failed efforts to get a deal Wednesday.

"What I figured out yesterday and what this caucus figured out
yesterday is what we're going to get that the rest of this session,"
Keane said. "You can continue to do it to us, but some time on these
important issues, we do need to talk. It's not happening. ... And
we're going to continue to vote no until someone starts talking to us
around here sometime."

Sen. Dave Wanzenried, D-Missoula, took offense to comments
characterizing medical marijuana users as people running with the
wrong crowd.

"How dare you say that," he shouted. "For people that have MS, Lou
Gehrig's diseases and a whole host of other maladies that have chosen
not to be addicted to narcotics, that the wrong crowd? But no, we have
a pharmaceutical industry that can market that. We said that's OK."

Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, who previously opposed the repeal bill and
helped write the repeal-and-overhaul bill, said he felt compelled to
vote for the repeal after what happened Wednesday.

He talked about drug abuse in schools and contended that organized
crime is involved in medical marijuana here.

"I have no choice," he said. "I did all that I could. I'd encourage
everyone in my caucus and the few of you that are not satisfied with
the status quo to give (HB161) the green light."

Sen. Kim Gillan, D-Billings, said a bipartisan interim legislative
committee did a comprehensive study on medical marijuana and agreed on
a major bill that has been bottled up in a House committee in favor of
the repeal bill.

"That's why we're here today, because politics played a role," she
said.

Then Gillan added she was tired of being lectured about drug abuse in
schools and said she hopes legislators will concentrate on other needs
in schools, a reference to school funding and her anti-bullying bill.

"So spare me the lectures," she said. "I don't need them."