Cracked pot law needs a fix

The wheels are in motion for changes to Montana’s dubious medical marijuana industry (or should we say racket?), and changes are definitely in order.

A legislative committee has approved a series of measures that would make it more difficult to get a medical marijuana card, set more stringent conditions for those who grow and sell medical marijuana, and make it easier for the state to track and regulate the industry.

It has indeed become an industry, with the number of card holders growing from just a few thousand last year to 23,500 at the end of July. That astounding change is thanks largely to “cannabis caravans” that traveled the state, with doctors rapidly screening and approving those in “desperate need” of medical marijuana. The caravans have been discontinued, however, and replaced with online applications for cards. A Billings reporter this week got a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana after an eight-minute online conversation.

Jason Christ, executive director of the Montana Caregivers Network, thinks that eight minutes was too long a wait, and not surprisingly, he is unhappy with the new restrictions that are being proposed for the Legislature.

“I think these bill drafts simply don’t make sense and don’t reflect the will of the people,” he says.

Well, we beg to differ. Montana voters approved a medical marijuana ballot initiative in 2004 after being exposed to a campaign that highlighted terminally ill people or unfortunate souls with serious pain. There was an impression that medical marijuana would be used for exceptional purposes.

But that’s not what happened, and there seems to be a reluctance to accurately describe what has happened. But we’ll give it a stab: while many card holders probably have legitimate medical issues, a good share of medical marijuana cards are being acquired by potheads with no serious ailments.

And we’ll take it a step further. Some marijuana “caregivers” are nothing more than profit-seeking pot dealers.

Take the case of two sisters who were arrested in the Havre area this week for suspect transactions at their “Ganja Gardens” business. An undercover investigation revealed that the sisters were selling more than the one-ounce state limit, they weren’t selling to designated patients as required, and their marijuana grow operation was not substantial enough to provide the amount of pot they were distributing, raising suspicions that they were buying their weed from elsewhere. And that’s not how it’s supposed to work.

But that’s the big problem here; Montana’s medical marijuana law is not working the way it was supposed to work in many ways.

“When I talk to my constituents — even those who voted for it — they say, ‘This is not what I voted for,’” said state Sen. Roy Brown, R-Billings.

He’s not alone in that observation. If marijuana advocates want legalized marijuana, hey that’s cool, put it on the ballot and let’s see what happens. But exploiting the state’s medical marijuana law isn’t cool, and the Legislature is right to bring the law in line with the intent of Montana’s voters.