GROUP READY FOR SIGNATURE DRIVE TO STOP CANNABIS LAW

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 nearly as many names as they initially believed.

They will need to obtain 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.

Once Gov. Brian Schweitzer lets Senate Bill 423, by Sen. Jeff Essmann,
R-Billings, become law without his signature, they can take the
initial steps needed to launch a signature-gathering effort.
Suspension backers 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 of the state House
districts as the Montana Constitution specifies.

They do not need also to obtain the signatures of 15 percent of the
total number of people who voted for governor in 2008, the office's
chief legal counsel, Jorge Quintana, said.

It will make a huge difference in the signature-gathering
efforts.

To get the 15 percent of the 51 districts will take between 31,238
signatures for the 51 House districts with the lowest number of voters
to 43,247 signatures for the 51 districts with the most voters,
McCulloch's election staff calculated.

There is no separate requirement that they obtain the signatures of 15
percent of the total people who voted for governor in 2008. 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.

"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
be the first since Montanans for Better Government, led by Rob
Natelson, a former University of Montana, 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 "clearly 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.
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."