LAWMAKER: DELIST MEDICAL POT, LIKE WOLVES

HELENA -- A Missoula legislator suggested Monday that the federal
government "delist" the regulation of medical marijuana and leave it
up to state control, just as was done with the Northern Rocky Mountain
gray wolves this year.

Rep. Diane Sands proposed the idea in an email sent to some of her
Democratic colleagues, and she will send similar notes to Republican
legislators and Gov. Brian Schweitzer. She was a leading Democratic
legislator on the medical marijuana issue in the 2011 session after
chairing an interim committee that studied the issue extensively last
year.

"I think this is a unique movement in time to once and for all get
this addressed at the federal level," Sands said in an interview Monday.

At present, she said, there's little a state Legislature can do to
regulate medical marijuana, given the federal government role. In
addition, the federal government's stand on medical marijuana can vary
with different presidents and their appointed attorneys general.

"That just creates such uncertainty to people who are medical
marijuana patients or providing medical marijuana to them," Sands
said. "There's no stability."

Her comments followed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's comments in
Rhode Island last week that he intended to clarify the Justice
Department's stance on state medical marijuana laws. Holder's comments
came after federal prosecutors in a number of states, including
Montana, have warned they might prosecute licensed growers, despite
state laws.

Montana's U.S. attorney, Michael Cotter, issued a warning letter in
response to a request for his position from the presiding officers of
the Montana House and Senate in April.

In her email, Sands wrote:

"I think we all agree that states have an extremely limited ability to
act and regulate medical marijuana, given the U.S. attorney's most
recent letter about the implications of marijuana's controlled
substances status."

She noted that Holder intends to issue further clarification
soon.

"It seems clear no initiative, state legislation or state court action
can expand regulatory authority if the federal government chooses to
exercise the Controlled Substances Act restrictions," Sands said.

"It appears to me that there is a window of opportunity to change the
federal status if states act together to request a
'delist-and-provide-for-state-regulation' model similar to wolf
management."

Earlier this year, Congress passed a bipartisan rider to the 2011
federal budget bill. That rider ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to reinstate the 2009 wolf delisting decision and barred
further court challenges.

Sands, noting the number of states, mostly in the West, that have
legalized medical marijuana, suggested that perhaps some state
governors, led by Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Washington Gov. Chris
Gregoire, could be approached to push the effort to delist medical
marijuana.

Schweitzer is in China for two weeks.

In addition, Sands said legislators in states that have legalized
medical marijuana might be able to advocate for such an effort at
meetings of their national groups, the National Conference of State
Legislatures and the Council on State Government.

"Even if it were not to happen, it would be at the least a bold
request," Sands said. "The least we should do is make the request."

Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann, R-Billings sponsored the bill
that ultimately became law this session without Schweitzer's signature
to tighten restrictions on the industry.

He said Sands is proposing an exemption from the Controlled Substances
Act, the federal law that regulates marijuana and other illegal drugs.

Essmann said he would prefer to take a different approach. He favors
letting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration study a prescription
drug, Savitex, produced from a marijuana derivative, that has been
approved for use in Europe.

"I think during the session and prior to the session and since the
session, I've heard from a lot of people if it's medicine, why isn't
it handled through the pharmacy and regulated by that," he said of
marijuana. "I had one physician tell me he thought the cart was ahead
of the horse. The science should develop and then we should take the
appropriate legal action."