EAST HELENA MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENT PROPOSES INITIATIVE TO DECRIMINALIZE POT

HELENA - An East Helena medical marijuana patient who had worked in
law enforcement wants to amend the state constitution by initiative
in 2012 to decriminalize all pot here and treat it like alcohol.

"Let us end the pointless battles," Barb Trego wrote state officials
in submitting her idea. "Let us stop treating medical marijuana and
non-medical marijuana differently. Let us stop treating alcohol and
marijuana differently.

"We are far better off as a state, and as a society, if the people
who wish to participate in the purchase, production or consumption of
either product are subject or regulations and taxation, not prohibition."

Trego said Thursday she uses medical marijuana to reduce swelling
from a degenerative disc in her back.

Based on her experience as a deputy sheriff and reservist in Lewis
and Clark County, Trego said there is "no call for us here in Montana
to spend our law enforcement resources investigating, arresting or
punishing adults who merely produce or use a small amount of marijuana."

Trego, 56, filed the paperwork for a constitutional initiative with
Secretary of State Linda McCulloch's office this week. That triggers
a review by several agencies before the petition language is approved
and she can start collecting signatures.

Her measure differs from the proposed referendum already cleared by
state agencies that, if enough Montanans sign petitions, would let
voters decide whether to retain or reject the more restrictive 2011
state medical marijuana law. A Helena district judge has temporarily
blocked parts of the new law from taking effect.

Trego initially told the Missoulian State Bureau Thursday she was
part of a group putting forward the initiative, but declined to
identify it. She called back later to say she's offering the measure
on her own, not on behalf of any group.

"I have watched the back-and-forth over our state's medical marijuana
law with sadness and frustration," she said in the letter.
"Fundamentally, marijuana is a safe and effective plant-based
medicine. But it is treated in the political debate here in Montana
as some kind of heretical force, or as a dangerous narcotic, or both.
It is neither."

Her proposal would amend the state constitutional provision that says
a person 18 years of age or older is an adult for all purposes,
although the Legislature or the people by initiative may set the
legal age for purchasing, consuming or possessing alcoholic beverages.

Trego would add this language: "Adults have the right to responsibly
purchase, consume, produce and possess alcoholic beverages and
marijuana, subject to reasonable limitations, regulations and
taxation. Except for actions that endanger minors, children or public
safety, no criminal offense or penalty of this state shall apply to
such activities."

Montana has higher law enforcement priorities than "to target
individuals who produce or possess marijuana for personal use," her
findings say.

Trego's findings have a caveat that says voters recognize the federal
government maintains "a strict prohibition" on marijuana, just as it
once had a prohibition on alcohol. As a result, the amendment "may be
limited in its applicability until such time as the national
prohibition (on marijuana) or its enforcement, is relaxed or
repealed," they say.

Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, who sponsored the
more restrictive 2011 medical pot law, said a ballot measure to
decriminalize marijuana was proposed in California last year.

"Even in that very liberal state, the people rejected legalization,"
he said. It lost by a margin of 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent.

Essmann said Trego is at least taking "an honest, forthright method
to accomplish what she wishes," unlike those who advocated for the
2004 voter-passed ballot measure to legalize marijuana for some
medical purposes.

"Unfortunately, I think the people that advanced the medical
marijuana initiative in 2004 may have misrepresented what their
ultimate goal was, which has created the mess the Legislature is
trying to deal with," Essmann said.

To qualify Trego's measure for the ballot, supporters will need to
obtain the signatures of 10 percent of the voters in 40 of the 100
state House districts and 10 percent of the total voters statewide,
or 48,674 people.