GROUP SUES TO PROTECT MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAREGIVERS

A lawsuit filed last week by the Montana Medical Growers Association,
a medical marijuana advocacy group, seeks to clarify whether
caregivers can transport medical marijuana, cultivate medical
marijuana for other caregivers, or sell medical marijuana to other
caregivers under state law.

The group filed the suit March 23 on behalf of two men facing felonies
after a February traffic stop yielded three pounds of marijuana.
Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan is named in the lawsuit.

Tim Baldwin, a Kalispell attorney who represents the growers
association and filed the complaint for declaratory judgment in
Flathead District Court, said he hopes the case will set a precedent.

"The primary goal is to clarify what the medicinal marijuana act
actually allows and, two, it's designed to essentially enjoin... law
enforcement and the county attorney's office from prosecuting actions
that we believe to be allowed," Baldwin explained.

An affidavit attached to the lawsuit identified two of the men
involved in the February drug arrests as Leif Erickson and Robin Ruiz.
One of them is a registered caregiver and the other a patient,
according to court documents. They were arrested by Flathead County
Sheriff's Office and Northwest Drug Task Force deputies after their
vehicle was stopped on U.S. 2 near Lake Five Road on Feb. 3.

According to court documents, a search of their vehicle resulted in
the discovery of three pounds of marijuana, 300 capsules believed to
contain THC -- tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana
- -- and five vials of suspected THC honey.

The men were driving to Great Falls to deliver the marijuana,
according to the Sheriff's Office. They were charged with criminal
possession with intent to distribute, a felony punishable by up to 20
years in prison and a fine of $50,000. They have both pleaded innocent.

The lawsuit claims that numerous law enforcement agencies in Montana
operate under the belief that a caregiver is not lawfully able to
deliver, transport or transfer marijuana or its paraphernalia to
another caregiver.

"Based upon this legal presumption, many investigations, arrests and
prosecutions are being conducted and the rights, status and legal
relationship of caregivers in Montana and in Flathead County are in
real and actual risk, jeopardy and controversy," the lawsuit states.

Chris Lindsey, the attorney representing Ruiz and Erickson in their
criminal cases, wrote that the Montana Attorney General's Office and
the U.S. Department of Justice have provided instructions to sheriff's
offices and county attorney's offices saying Montana's Medical
Marijuana Act does not allow for caregiver-to-caregiver transfers.

Baldwin, however, says his clients and other medical marijuana
caregivers are not only allowed to transport marijuana, but that they
are required to do so by the act.

"They have an obligation and a duty to make sure they care for their
patients," Baldwin said.

Baldwin recently moved to Flathead County from Florida along with
several members of his family, including his father, former
Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin.