MISSOULA MEDICAL MARIJUANA ENTREPRENEURS CHRIST, ROSIO AT ODDS IN COURT

Two of the most prominent and controversial members of Missoula's
medical marijuana community are at legal odds over a former
collaboration.

Jason Christ and Rick Rosio are due in court Tuesday for a pretrial
conference in Christ's suit against Rosio and his Montana Pain
Management business (which appears to be defunct), as well as Dr. J.P.
Pujol of Helena.

Christ, who owns the former Montana Caregivers Network now known as
CannabisCare, accuses the three of cheating him from the proceeds of
patient referrals and a clinic held in December.

Missoula County District Judge Dusty Deshamps has signed a default
judgment against Rosio for the $55,000 Christ claims is owed him.
Another court filing alleges that Montana Pain Management is insolvent.

The complaint filed last month by Christ alleges that checks written
by Rosio bounced, that Rosio refused to take his phone calls or hung
up on him when the calls rang through, and that Rosio violated a
no-compete agreement.

And Christ - who has been widely criticized for the traveling
"cannabis caravans" that once signed up hundreds of people for medical
marijuana recommendations in a few hours - wrote of an "ethical
'slippery slope' " because Pujol was contacted to staff the December
clinic just hours before it was held.

"Therefore, the likelihood of the quality of medical expertise given
to the patient, who is paying for expert health care, is lower," his
complaint reads. "This ethical 'slippery slope' is analogous to a
manufacture of oxycodon (or legal heroin), hiring doctors who
prescribe the oxycodon based on their employment or contract
relationship with that pharmaceutical drug maker."

Both Rosio and Christ have seen their businesses subjected to search
warrants by law enforcement in the last several months. The Montana
Pain Management office on South Third Street West shut down several
weeks ago, and the state Department of Labor and Industry last month
cited the business for nearly $3,000 in 2010 taxes.

Rosio recently announced a new business named Rosio Caps MT in a
Brooks Street building near Kmart. That address is occupied by another
medical marijuana business, Green Door Wellness, whose agent is Kraig
Michels.

Michels is named, along with Rosio and Montana Pain Management, in a
suit filed in November by Delphia Holdings Corp., a medical marijuana
grow operation. Delphia claims an MPM board member illegally
transferred more than $50,000 from Delphia into the clinic's account.

As in Christ's suit, members of Delphia complained that they "hounded"
Rosio for money owed them.

Christ details eight calls allegedly made to Rosio within about an
hour and a half on Jan. 3, all seeking payment. Rosio either hung up
on him or refused the calls, according to his complaint.

The mailbox for one of Rosio's telephone numbers was full on Monday
and other numbers previously listed for him had been disconnected.
Christ did not return a telephone call seeking comment about the complaint.

Christ's complaint says that he and Rosio met at Christ's "mass
screenings provided ... to thousands of patients in and around
Missoula County."

Last year, the two entered a contract that Rosio and MPM would
exclusively use Christ's business for recommendations by physicians
and for renewing cards, according to the complaint. In December, they
allegedly scheduled a clinic at Rosio's office.

Pujol said in a telephone interview that he had no idea Christ was
involved in the clinic and that he was called the day before to
substitute for a doctor who had canceled.

"If I would have known anything about their connection or that's who I
was working for, I sure wouldn't have stepped into that hornet's
nest," he said Monday. "It was a good lesson."