FEWER SIGNATURES REQUIRED TO SUSPEND MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

HELENA -- Medical marijuana advocates preparing to mount a
signature-gathering effort to suspend a soon-to-enacted law
restricting the industry won't need to collect as many names as they
initially believed.

They will need to get between 31,238 and 43,247 signatures, depending
on which state House districts they use, but they don't need to gather
a total of 73,010 signatures as some originally believed.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has said he will let Senate Bill 423, by Sen.
Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, become law without his signature. Once that
happens, medical marijuana backers can launch a signature-gathering
effort. They first must file documents with the secretary of state's
office, which triggers a review by several state offices.

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch's office concluded Tuesday that any
efforts to suspend laws need only the signatures of at least 15
percent of the registered voters in at least 51 state House districts,
as specified by the Montana Constitution. There are 100 House districts.

But they do not also need to get the signatures of 15 percent of the
total number of people who voted for governor in 2008, said Jorge
Quintana, the office's chief legal counsel. That would have required
the critics of the medical marijuana law to have obtained 73,010 total
signatures, including meeting the 15 percent signature requirement in
51 House districts.

To get 15 percent of 51 districts, backers will need between 31,238
and 43,247 signatures, depending on which districts the signatures are
gathered in. Using the districts with the fewest voters would require
31,238. Using the districts with more voters would require 43,247
signatures, McCulloch's election staff calculated.

"The numbers are, of course, good news," said Kate Cholewa,
spokeswoman for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. "We
believed we needed in the ballpark of 100,000 signatures, and we feel
confident we could get them. Maybe we still will. Citizens are
chomping at the bit to sign something to stop the destruction of the
medical marijuana program in Montana. The outpouring of civic
involvement is impressive."

Even so, those running signature campaigns usually try to exceed the
required goal by some amount, such as 20 percent, to make up for any
disqualified signatures by people who aren't registered voters.

The group also raised $50,000 in less than a week to hire James Goetz,
a prominent Bozeman lawyer, who will file a lawsuit challenging SB423.
The Cannabis Industry Association wants to stop the law from being
implemented, which would give supporters time to gather the signatures.

The Montana Constitution empowers citizens to undertake referendum
efforts to put a state law on the ballot if they get enough signatures
so voters can decide whether to keep it or reject it. That takes the
signatures of 5 percent of the registered voters in at least 34 House
districts. The total number of signers also must equal at least 5
percent of the state's registered voters.

A suspension goes one step further than a referendum and requires
considerably more signatures by stopping a law from being implemented
until Montanans vote on it.

The planned effort to suspend the medical marijuana law is believed to
the first since Montanans for Better Government, led by Rob Natelson,
a former University of Montana professor, successfully suspended an
income tax increase in 1993. Voters later rejected the law in 1994.

In Quintana's legal opinion for McCulloch, he said the language in the
constitution "cleanly means that petitions must be signed by at least
15 percent of the qualified electors in a majority of each of the
legislative representative districts."

Quintana said that conclusion was corroborated by a letter from
then-Secretary of State Mike Cooney to then-Gov. Marc Racicot in
September 1993 concerning Montanans for Better Government's effort to
suspend the tax increase. Cooney said he certified that the signatures
on Initiative Referendum 112 equaling at least 15 percent of the
registered voters "in each of the 51 legislative representative
districts have been filed."