MISSOULA LEGISLATOR: FEDS SHOULD 'DELIST' MEDICAL MARIJUANA, PUT IT
IN STATE CONTROL

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 Northern Rocky Mountain
gray wolves this year.

State Rep. Diane Sands proposed the idea in an email 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's 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
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, warned they
might prosecute licensed growers, despite state laws.

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.

"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 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.

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.

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."