JUDGE: POT TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN CAREGIVERS ILLEGAL

Flathead County District Judge Stewart Stadler has ruled that the
Montana Medical Marijuana Act does not allow for transactions of
marijuana between caregivers.

Thursday's ruling in the civil lawsuit brought against Flathead County
Attorney Ed Corrigan has implications for the criminal cases against
two men who were charged with felonies after a February traffic stop
that yielded three pounds of marijuana.

Stadler granted Corrigan's motion for summary judgment, saying that
the Montana Medical Marijuana Act clearly states that caregivers may
provide marijuana only to "qualifying patients."

Stadler found that the plaintiffs -- identified in court documents as
the Medical Marijuana Growers Association, two anonymous couriers and
three anonymous caregivers -- had a "serious impediment" in their main
arguments.

"All of plaintiffs arguments are predicated on the assumption that the
Act is ambiguous with respect to whom caregivers may and may not
supply with marijuana ... no such ambiguity exists; rather, the clear
and unambiguous language of the Act permits caregivers 'to provide
marijuana only to qualifying patients who have named the applicant as
caregiver,'" Stadler wrote.

He added that further interpretation of the law "would necessarily
entail turning a blind eye to one of its explicit provisions."

During a July 6 hearing for the case, Stadler noted that Missoula
District Judge John Larson also ruled that caregiver-to-caregiver
transactions are not legal. That case is being appealed to the state
Supreme Court.

The two anonymous couriers in the case have been identified as Lief
Erickson and Robin Ruiz, who were charged with possession of dangerous
drugs with intent to distribute after the Feb. 3 traffic stop on U.S.
2 near Lake Five Road. The Flathead County Attorney's Office contends
the men were transporting three pounds of marijuana to Great Falls at
the time.

According to court documents, a search of their vehicle also turned up
300 capsules containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and
five vials of suspected THC honey. Ruiz was a registered caregiver and
Erickson a patient.

The county attorney's office asserts that the amount of marijuana
involved is also a factor in the criminal cases against the two men,
because the state's medical marijuana law has limitations on how much
can be possessed.