REGULATE, NOT ERADICATE

No one asked me what my intentions were when I voted in favor of the
Montana medical marijuana law, so I will take a moment to share my
thoughts with you. Granted, the situation has spun out of control. The
situation needs regulation, not strangulation. I ask the governor to
veto House Bill 423 as it is not well thought out. With some good ol'
Montana ingenuity, this could easily become a jobs bill. Montana does
a great job with regulation. Have you tried to get a special bottle of
wine mailed to you from an out-of-state winery? With regulation,
taxation, licensing, quality control and the other parts of regulation
that we are good at, we have the opportunity to turn this into an
income source for the state and jobs for bona fide people who want to
offer an alternative to medicine. Just as I have not the time nor the
interest to raise my own chickens, I feel the same about growing my
own marijuana. I would rather buy it from a licensed organic Montana
grower that! is regulated, taxed, inspected, tested for purity and
proudly labeld as Made in Montana and sold only in Montana. There has
got to be a better way to get this regulated without insulting the
intelligence of those in the medical field and the people who voted
for it to begin with. Please do not follow what the other states are
doing; take the lead and do it the Montana way.

Fred Naeher

Helena