MONTANA MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS STUCK IN LEGAL LIMBO

For many, marijuana offered a respite from painful illness, but new
state regulation leaves them with few real options

Sarah Baugh grew up a pastor's daughter, adamantly against
drugs.

She would never dream of touching marijuana. But Baugh had a disorder
that made her seize and tremble and that - eventually - would make her
see marijuana as medicine.

Baugh was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 15. The disorder would strike
her suddenly, sometimes in mid-sentence. She'd daze off, and could
hear those around her but was unable to focus or respond.

Other times her seizures were more noticeable. The episodes would
start with Baugh acting differently and making no sense. Her husband
might ask her how she was doing, and she'd say "green." Then she'd
fall to the ground, shaking, and her eyes would roll into the back of
her head.

When she woke up, she would feel humiliated and confused, unsure of
who she was or where she was. It would take her three to four days to
recover.

The disorder has been more than an inconvenience in Baugh's life. It's
meant losing jobs, not being able to get a driver's license, and
dropping out of college.

Baugh wanted to find a way to treat her sickness, but the conventional
medical treatments she'd been trying for a decade all failed or made
her hurt badly. So Baugh tried something different: marijuana.

Baugh qualified for and began using a medical marijuana card in 2009
after moving to Helena from South Carolina. It put a stop to her
shaking and spasms, and she hasn't had a seizure in more than a year -
progress she calls a miracle.

But in less than a month, changes are coming to the medical marijuana
industry that terrify Baugh and make her think she'll be back to her
old self, having seizures again because she can't get the treatment
she needs.

On July 1, the state's new medical marijuana law is scheduled to be
fully in effect, putting an end to legally buying and selling
marijuana in Montana. For some patients, that will mean trying to grow
their own, looking to the streets, or just giving up on medical marijuana.

But those who support the new law say it's necessary to control an
industry that's rampantly grown from 86 patients in March 2005 to the
current number of patients, which is more than 30,000.

Still, medical marijuana advocates continue to fight against the law;
they hope to overturn it with court actions and petitions. But if it
does go into effect as planned, what will it mean to the use of
medical marijuana in Montana?

THE START OF AN INDUSTRY

Montana's history of legalized marijuana began in November 2004, when
voters passed an initiative that allowed certain patients with
specific medical conditions to use a limited amount of marijuana. That
made Montana the 10th state to pass a medical marijuana law, even
though under federal law it's illegal to grow, sell, purchase or use
the drug.

Starting several years ago, medical marijuana users in the state began
to increase tremendously. To the public, it seemed anybody who wanted
a card could get one. People in their 20s and 30s who appeared to have
no serious ailments were becoming patients, getting legal and easy
access to the drug.

And the number of caregivers, who provide marijuana to patients, grew
from 35 in March 2005 to about 4,600 currently.

Billboards went up proclaiming the price of an ounce of weed.
Newspaper pages showed huge, close-up photos of the drug. Storefronts
opened near schools, displaying plants on their front steps or the
drug in their windows.

Even now, caretakers and patients admit the industry had gotten out of
control and was abused.

People who had supported the 2004 initiative started contacting their
legislators, telling them that this was not what they had voted for.
Jeff Essmann, a Republican senator from Billings, was one who heard
their complaints.

"When the initiative was promoted, it was all about helping a small
group of chronically ill people get some relief," he said. "The voters
I talked to felt like they'd been lied to."

Essmann pointed out that the words "sale of marijuana" never appeared
in the original initiative, nor did the words "cannabis industry." Yet
those things came of the law.

"If they wanted to legalize marijuana," Essmann said, "they should've
put that initiative on the ballot and been honest."

Senate Bill 423, the law that in less than 30 days will essentially
undo the medical marijuana industry, was a collaborative effort. But
Essmann became the senator who carried it through the
Legislature.

The bill was controversial, decried as imperfect by many critics,
including Gov. Brian Schweitzer. But it still became law.

And now many are wondering: How is it going to affect
me?

THE PATIENTS' SIDE

For patients, many of the changes will make acquiring medical
marijuana a challenge.

For example, patients must now show more evidence that they're
experiencing debilitating pain. For some, that may mean providing an
X-ray, an MRI, or a diagnosis from two physicians, rather than one.

If they do qualify for a card, the best option for obtaining marijuana
is growing their own.

That's because caregivers will be restricted to helping three
patients, and are barred from accepting anything of value, including
money, for any services or products they provide. Those who remain
caregivers will be volunteers, working for free.

And most can't afford that.

So patients who can't find a caregiver will have to grow their own
restricted number of plants. But that option opens up a whole new set
of obstacles.

THE PROBLEM WITH A PERSONAL GROW OPERATION

Patients who want to grow their own plants will most likely be able to
if they own their own home. But if they rent, a landlord's permission
must be granted. Even then, the rented space would have to be large
enough to accommodate a marijuana grow operation.

Assuming those conditions could be met, a patient's next dilemma would
be finding a seed to start their plants. Patients are allowed to have
four mature plants, 12 seedlings, and one ounce of usable marijuana -
but the law doesn't make clear whether it's legal to obtain seeds to
begin those original plants.

Essmann said the legality of getting seeds is ambiguous in the new
law, but he added that it was also not specified in the initiative.

If a patient did get a seed, there would still be difficulties in
growing their plants. Maintaining marijuana requires special lights
and timers, as well as the right soil and chemicals. Then there's the
time that has to be put in - the daily watering and trimming and monitoring.

Even then, things can go wrong. Spider mites, mold or other impurities
can ruin an entire crop. And then the hundreds of dollars spent to
start up the grow operation would be wasted.

The law makes it clear that only those patients with debilitating
sicknesses can use medical marijuana. They're people with diseases
like cancer, multiple sclerosis, or AIDS. And that means some could be
physically incapable of growing their own marijuana.

Brenda White, a local medical marijuana patient, uses the treatment
for tendonitis and fibromyalgia. The latter gives her a body cold from
head to toe, triggering pain and aches all over.

"I hurt, period," said White, 51.

But the marijuana relieves that pain and helps her to sleep, and
White's already thinking about what she'll do if the law is fully
enacted July 1.

"There's probably a 90 percent chance that I'll be buying it on the
black market," she said. "And I don't want to do that."

White lives in an apartment, and her landlord already told her she
couldn't grow marijuana there. And White doesn't think there's any way
she can find someone who would grow pot for her and give it away for
free.

So what can patients in her situation do?

"Just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's impossible," Essmann
said. "If it provides her that much relief and she has anyone in her
life that is compassionate toward her, I'm certain she can find some
assistance."

Essmann suggested those who can't grow the marijuana themselves ask
friends or family members to do it.

But White said all her family members live in apartments,
too.

Baugh, the patient with epilepsy, said she's treated her illness with
a combination of using her own marijuana plants and buying the drug
from providers. That way, if her own crop fails, she won't be left
without treatment.

To ingest marijuana, Baugh prefers to eat a butter infused with
cannabis for treatment, and she said the plants she'd be allowed to
grow wouldn't create enough raw product to make the butter.

"There is no way I'll be able to support my medical needs and not
break this law," she said.

Essmann said that when the bill was going through the Legislature,
information was sought on how much marijuana was needed to make edible
products, but he said there wasn't any testimony on that subject. He
added that while patients cannot pay for marijuana, they could pay for
advice on how to care for their own plants from anyone who is not a
registered provider.

OTHERS AFFECTED

Physicians and caregivers are also looking to the impacts that could
come to them July 1. Kate Cholewa, a board member for the Montana
Cannabis Industry Association, said some doctors have already begun
raising their prices for medical marijuana patients.

That's because if doctors write certifications for 25 patients or more
in a 12-month period, they will be reviewed by the board of medical
examiners - and they'll have to pay the board's costs while being reviewed.

Other physicians are simply choosing not to prescribe marijuana any
longer.

And some caregivers have already quit or closed their businesses.
Others are still hanging on, maintaining a few plants in case the law
is blocked before July 1.

Law enforcement officials are also preparing by going over the new law
and being ready for July 1, when they'll be on hand to help local
businesses and caregivers destroy their marijuana plants if any are
left.

Ron Price, the Bozeman chief of police, said caregivers can get rid of
their marijuana in any way they choose between now and July 1, but
said local law enforcement officials will be available that day to
help dispose of the drugs.

Price added that he doesn't think the police department will see any
significant impacts if the law goes into effect, even if more people
turn to the streets to find marijuana.

"I don't necessarily think it's going to make our job any busier," he
said, "but it will change the nature and flavor of how we investigate
reports and deal with issues."

LIMBO

But there's still a chance the law could be blocked before it's fully
enacted July 1. The Montana Cannabis Industry Association and eight
plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit to overturn Senate Bill 423, claiming
it violates constitutional rights.

They're also seeking an injunction that would temporarily keep the new
law from going into effect while the litigation was ongoing. However,
they won't know if that injunction will be granted until at least June
20 or 21 when hearings are scheduled, according to Cholewa.

And in a collaborative effort from those in the medical marijuana
industry, there are plans to pass around petitions with the hopes of
getting enough signatures for a referendum, which would put the future
of the industry in voters' hand.

Still, as June days begin to pass and parts of the new law are
gradually implemented, caregivers, patients and others find themselves
in limbo.

Will this be the last window of time in Montana when people will be
able to legally buy and sell marijuana? Or is this just one more hill
to climb before the buy-and-sell medical marijuana industry comes back
for good?

For Montana, those answers will largely be up to the courts, the
signers of petitions, and the voters.