NEW LAW CAUSES CONFUSION

Until last week, Kimberly Boyd, Green Mountain Medical Solutions, a
medical marijuana dispensary in Sidney, was a legal business. But
under the new medical marijuana act that took effect Friday, she was
forced to burn what was left of her products.

When Senate Bill 423 became law Friday, the 2004 voter initiative to
legalize medical marijuana was nullified, and caregivers can no longer
provide marijuana for their card-holding patients. "It completely took
away my job. I'm no longer a caregiver," Boyd, Richland County captain
for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, said. The new law now
requires her to reregister and fill out new paperwork for each
patient. Boyd, a patient herself, can only grow for herself.

The law also outlines for stern regulation of proof of chronic pain
before a person can receive a registration card for a particular condition.

But a district judge in Helena stopped three major parts of the bill
that would've become law, issuing a preliminary injunction on
restrictions for how the marijuana dispensaries do business. The
injunction came after the cannabis association sued the state once the
bill was passed, stating unconstitutional restrictions.

Judge James Reynolds blocked a restriction on the number of patients a
caregiver (now called provider) can have and deny them from turning a
profit for their products as well as advertising for their business.
The law would have limited the number of patients to three. He also
blocked a limit on the number of plants that can be grown. In his
ruling, Reynolds said no other industries were forbidden from
receiving compensation for goods and services.

Reynolds also put a stop to the limit on doctors who can recommend 25
patients a year for medical marijuana. "There's already only certain
doctors in the state that are willing to provide it to patients
anyway," Boyd said, "so those doctors need to be able to give as many
patients as possible." She said some health facilities already
disallow recommending the plant to patients, so those who seek the
alternative medicine must leave their normal health care provider,
something the new law forbids.

Sidney Health Center CEO Rick Haraldson says the health facility has a
policy to not have medical marijuana available at its pharmacy. The
pill Marinol, a pharmaceutical product whose active ingredient is
synthetic THC, is widely available through prescription and has been
available at the hospital for a while. Physicians, however, can
prescribe any legal drug for their patients, including medical
marijuana. The patient would need to go elsewhere to fill the
prescription for medical marijuana though.

The judge blocked other parts of the bill that would make dispensaries
subject to unannounced searches.

Medical marijuana providers, under the ruling, can continue to operate
under many of the rules approved by voters in 2004 until a full case
can be heard. The initiative came under fire after the number of
medical marijuana users severely jumped from under 5,000 users in 2009
to more than 30,000. Boyd said it's a testament to the benefits of
medical marijuana use. "I would say that if we really had all the
medicinal marijuana users who are using it legally and illegally,
let's just say come out of the closet, we would have closer to 100,000
people smoking it in Montana," she said. "We're really excited about
that number, and it's just going to keep on growing."

For Boyd, the association's actions are about more than medical
marijuana use. "This is about the fact that the government has decided
to overturn a voter initiative. They completely took away the will of
Montanans," she said.

A 30-page law is bound to have some hiccups, and it has with it
reports of confusion over what's expected by both providers and law
enforcement. When Boyd prepared to turn in her plants before
Thursday's deadline, she said she went out of her way to work with law
enforcement who were just as perplexed as she. "It's just super
confusing," she said.

Richland County Sheriff Brad Baisch said that all the law did was take
out any regulation by law enforcement. "The judge really didn't change
anything for now," he said. Sheriff's deputies did not conduct any
searches or raids on medical marijuana dispensaries on Friday when the
law took effect, nor do they plan any in the future, he said.

Baisch said since legalizing marijuana, it's become unmanageable for
those in charge and believes the state Legislature should go through
it and fix it the next time around. "Now it's gotten to a point where
they need to make more rules and regulations," he said.

Meanwhile, Boyd fears that without safe access to the alternative
medication, patients will have no choice but to go to the black
market, a highly unregluated industry. "For so many people it's such a
life-changing medicine that they feel they have no other choice but to
risk their freedom in order to obtain it," she said, adding it's safer
to go through a licensed dispensary.

For now, the district judge's injunction gives medical marijuana
providers time to gather signatures to repeal the new law. Advocates
will need to get between 31,238 and 42,247 signatures, or 15 percent
of the state's 51 districts, depending on state House districts used.
The process was to begin this week, including Richland County. There
were 30,609 users at the end of April. "Even if you're not a supporter
of medical marijuana, you got to be a supporter of your rights as a
person," Boyd said. Advocates will also seek 5 percent of signatures
from registered voters to put the new law on the upcoming election's
ballot.

"It's definitely going to happen," Boyd said, "without a shadow of a
doubt."