BUSINESSES SORT THROUGH NEW LAW, INJUNCTION

A neon sign announced that Green Mountain Medical Solutions in
Billings was still in business Friday, but the owners aren't selling
any marijuana for now.

When the business closed at 8 p.m. Thursday, owner Jude Gordon stopped
selling medical marijuana ahead of a new state law that was set to
take effect first thing Friday morning.

But a district court judge's ruling Thursday temporarily halted parts
of the law and Gordon hopes to soon be selling again after submitting
a new application.

While the new law, passed by the most recent Legislature, and the
implications of the court injunction are still baffling to many
medical marijuana providers, Gordon seems to have it sorted out.

Friday morning, he was reading through the legal ruling on his
computer as several friends and business partners visited the shop at
124 N. 30th St.

After registering as a medical marijuana provider and going through an
FBI background check, Gordon expects to start supplying patients again.

"It could be a week or two weeks," he said.

At one time, Gordon had as many as 500 marijuana-card-carrying clients
from Billings, Havre, Glendive and Great Falls. He also had a store in
Sidney.

That business dipped drastically while several marijuana bills were
making their way through the 2011 Legislature.

Many patients didn't renew their medical marijuana cards when they
came due earlier this year because they thought the system might change.

Another factor has been probation officers telling people on probation
that they had to "pee clean" as of July 1. According to the new law,
no one on probation could use medical marijuana, Gordon said. It takes
several weeks to rid the body of any trace of marijuana.

Gordon followed marijuana bills through the Legislature and the
subsequent legal action brought by the marijuana industry because
"we're in such a risky business."

Because federal laws still prohibit the sale of marijuana, Gordon
doesn't want to do anything to attract federal authorities.

"I don't want to go to prison so I pay attention," he said, adding
that he is married and has two small children.

He and his business partners killed about 40 marijuana plants where
they were being grown outside of Billings to be ready for the new law.

Another medical marijuana business, Billings Cannabis Connection, at
221 Grand Ave., was closed "due to confusion of the new law and
injunction," according to a hand-written sign tacked inside metal
security bars on the front door.

"We will be closed today as we figure out the interpretation of the
new law and how we comply with it," the note said.

Amanda Skewis, who operates Yellowstone Valley Herbs with her husband,
Richard, also said she plans to restart her business in a couple of
weeks after she goes through the process stipulated under the new law.

The business she had operated until midnight Thursday was primarily a
marijuana delivery system operated out of her home by appointment only.

She does have a dispensary in Billings where people can pick up
medical marijuana, but it is not a retail shop where people can drop
by to buy the drug.

She said she had about a dozen patients, mostly cancer and multiple
sclerosis patients. One patient had chronic pain from arthritis.

"We are extremely picky about who we take," Skewis
said.

She's been in business as Yellowstone Valley Herbs since
2009.

Skewis was not opposed to all parts of the law passed by the
Legislature because the original law had been abused, she said.

Voters approving the initiative that created the medical marijuana
industry in Montana never intended for it to include storefront
businesses selling to hundreds of patients, she said.

People were getting medical marijuana cards at an alarming rate and
storefront marijuana operations proliferated.

"People saw dollar signs," she said. "People exercised poor judgment
for money."

She said she is sad because changes in the medical marijuana system
will mean patients won't get the drug for a while.

She is disappointed that the new law requires two doctors' signatures
for someone with chronic pain to get a marijuana card.

But she was pleased that the injunction blocks a provision that would
have limited the number of patients a doctor could recommend for a
card.

"It's already hard to find doctors willing to sign a card," she said.