Pubdate: Sun, 30 May 2010
Source: Missoulian (MT)
Copyright: 2010 Missoulian
Contact:  http://www.missoulian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/720
Note: Only prints letters from within its print circulation area
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

CLEAR UP VAGUE MARIJUANA LAW

Lawmakers Need to Fine-Tune Law to Rein in 'Chaos'

So it begins.

The Montana Board of Medical Examiners has announced - belatedly if 
you ask us, but nobody did - the end to free passes for the 
assembly-line docs who recommend medical marijuana.

 From now on, the board says, such physicians - many of them from out 
of state, who staff the traveling "cannabis caravan" clinics and who 
write recommendations for as many as 400 "patients" per day - can be 
cited for substandard care.

It's a start.

So are suggestions by Victor Sen. Jim Shockley, who wants to repeal 
the 2004 voter initiative that legalized medical marijuana, and Rep. 
Dave Lewis of Helena, who seeks a single, state-licensed grower for 
the entire state.

So is the work by the legislative Children, Families, Health and 
Human Services Interim Committee, which is working to craft laws to 
deal with Montana's out-of-control medical marijuana situation.

We won't detail that situation again here. You can read about it in 
the series that's running this weekend.

Suffice it to say that Rep. Diane Sands of Missoula, who chairs the 
committee, sounds uncharacteristically understated when she terms it "chaos."

Although several ideas have been bandied about, only one bill - 
Shockley's - has actually been drafted.

We like some of the suggestions we've heard, both from the committee 
hearing and also from other states grappling with the issue (See Page 1 story).

Colorado, for instance, is on the verge of requiring state regulation 
of medical marijuana dispensaries, with fees that would cover the 
costs. Oregon voters will likely see an initiative to create 
nonprofit state-licensed dispensaries. That would certainly end the 
clinic-on-every-corner phenomenon.

And we agree with Shockley that medical marijuana shouldn't be banned 
outright - the voters approved its use, after all - but we're just as 
queasy as he is with the de-facto overall legalization that seems to 
have occurred. Repealing the original law might not be the best way 
to go, but we'll back measures to hold that law to its original intent.

Whatever Sands' committee comes up with, we hope it schedules as many 
hearings as it takes to enable members to walk into the Capitol on 
Jan. 3 with a set of well-crafted bills in hand, legislation so 
airtight that it can be approved and signed into law as quickly as 
legislatively possible.

Generally, we're in favor of taking more time, not less, when it 
comes to controversial issues. But here's our advice to lawmakers:

Work fast.

Because we've got a long, smoky season ahead of us and we're not 
talking forest fires.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom