MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROVIDERS WERE SET UP BY THE FEDS

It wasn't clear at the time, but when the federal government abruptly
steamrolled dozens of medical marijuana providers in Montana last
March - the cultural equivalent of more than 900 simultaneous raids in
California - it marked the start of a radical national reversal in
President Barack Obama's administration's policy.

It was Obama himself, as a candidate in 2008, who promised to stop
caring about legal medical marijuana operators in states like Montana.
And it was Obama's Justice Department that, in 2009, told U.S.
Attorneys to focus on other issues and to leave alone those marijuana
patients and providers who performed in "clear and unambiguous
compliance" with their states' laws.

But in its dramatic 2011 reversal of this policy, the federal
government treated honorable Montanans as second-class citizens. In
October, the feds gave California's marijuana dispensaries 45 days of
advance notice to shut down. In contrast, the Montanans - all of them
registered with the State Health Department to grow and dispense
marijuana to legal patients - got zero warning of a federal policy
change.

They had been judged as legal, by all appearances, by state and local
law enforcement officials, but unlike their many thousands of
California counterparts today, didn't receive the courtesy of notice
that the federal government was about to suddenly reverse its policy.
Why?

To add insult to injury, the federal government is now prosecuting
these Montanans against whom local and state law enforcement officials
had not acted - and could have had the providers been a problem.
Indeed, some of those being targeted by the federal law enforcement
had maintained continuous and close relations with local law
enforcement.

They were proceeding professionally and had no interest in breaking
the law. Instead, the nation's taxpayers are now funding a Drug
Enforcement Administration witch hunt that targets them in direct
contradiction to President Obama's promises both as a candidate and in
his initial policy actions once in office. Apparently the DEA either
didn't get the memo or ignored it. Perhaps the "Drug Czar," Gil
Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
needs to be looked at for replacement. We all know what repeating the
same thing over and over and expecting a different result
constitutes.

This situation in our state is simply unfair. It's unfair because, in
effect, the federal government set some of these people up - promising
a new policy then pulling the carpet out from under those who believed
a new direction of hope and change was in the works.

It's also cruel. It's cruel because federal courts - in further
contradiction to Obama's promises - don't allow any consideration of a
person's adherence to state and local law. The U.S. Attorney in
Montana is pursuing prosecutions that won't permit any fairness to
what is discussed in court. No mention of the state law or of
compliance with it. No mention of meetings with local and state
officials to ensure that compliance with law was in place.

And who is being targeted by the federal government? It isn't
everyone. The party that unquestionably profited the most from
Montana's medical marijuana law, NorthWestern Energy, hasn't been
indicted. But NorthWestern was well-aware of what many of the state's
caregivers were doing, visited their locations and helped upgrade
their electrical infrastructure on a regular basis. The company is no
less guilty of a "conspiracy to violate federal drug law" than were
the legal Montana caregivers now in the government's crosshairs.

And Montana banks are no less guilty of "money laundering" than the
caregivers might be either. Under federal law, to take money from a
patient, deposit it in the bank and use it to pay the electricity bill
constitutes "money laundering." Don't think for a second that banks
whose clients had the word "cannabis" and "marijuana" in their
business names didn't know what was going on.

They are no less guilty under federal law than anyone else, but
federal prosecutions are being very selective - for what seems to be
political purposes - in who is targeted by DEA investigation and those
resulting prosecutions.

This situation in Montana and elsewhere magnifies the
counterproductive results of modern day prohibition and needs to end
immediately. This is the sort of thing that weds "Occupy Wall Street"
to the legions of Americans who know the so-called "war on drugs" has
been a complete failure.

Today's prohibition effort repeats our history of alcohol prohibition
in demonizing drug addiction and has enriched organized criminals
while criminalizing average Americans seeking relief from pain and
disease.

This all comes at tremendous cost to the treasury, with no impact in
drug use or the problems it causes.

While I am personally a strong supporter of the Obama administration
and Montana's U.S. Attorney Mike Cotter, I am confused and
disappointed.

This administration has some serious explaining to do, not just to
Montanans but to the voters in every medical marijuana state. Some of
these states - like Michigan, Colorado, Washington and Oregon - are
must-win states for Obama next year, and many of the other medical
marijuana states feature federal Senate races of major significance,
including Montana.

Why are taxpayers now paying to persecute Americans who merely
responded honestly to campaign promises and policy pronouncements of
our president on medical marijuana?

William Strizich, a former legislator from Great Falls, has been
involved in the criminal justice system throughout his life.