Pubdate: Sun, 14 Nov 2010
Source: Sidney Herald Leader (MT)
Copyright: 2010 Sidney Herald Leader
Contact:  http://www.sidneyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1769
Author: Louisa Barber

MONTANA CANNABIS WORKS ON OPENING STORE IN COMMUNITY

For more than a year, the Helena-based Montana Cannabis has been
delivering regularly to the Richland County area. And with the number
of medical marijuana patients on the rise, the company is now looking
to set up shop.

"We've been very low key here in what we do," co-founder Chris
Williams said during a trip to Sidney recently. The company started
one and a half years ago after the owners were caregivers. "We just
found there was a need for all three of us to group together to better
serve our patients," Williams said. There were remote areas where
patients weren't getting the service they needed, "so we started a
delivery system."

In the past year, the company has delivered to eastern and northern
Montana. It also serves southern Montana. "We've been increasing our
delivery times because we've gotten more patients here, and now we're
looking at getting a store here in the near future," he said.

The business philosophy, Williams said, is to fit into communities and
not to "rub them the wrong way." They use education rather than
marketing, he said, "so that when people do see our name out there
they realize what we're really about, which is serving sick people who
need this medicine to have a higher quality of life." The founders
also lobby in Helena for legislation dealing with medical marijuana to
"make positive changes" for this issue.

The company, which has three stores open in Miles City, Billings and
Helena, believes in serving patients first and to serve the highest
quality medicine at the lowest cost. It offers seven types of strings
including massage oils, baked goods, lip balms and soap, all with
active THC. The highest a patient pays is $250 per ounce. It's all
delivered to the home. The company grows 32 genetics of cannabis; the
wide variety stops the body from building an immunity to the drugs.
"Instead of having to increase the amount you would take - which you
will hit a plateau and it won't be effective - if you change genetics
it's effective again," he said.

Williams is quick to say Montana Cannabis does not serve those who are
not their patients and those who are not legal to use medical marijuana.

Those who want more information on how to get a card, sign up as a
patient under Montana Cannabis, and the laws and legalities may visit
www.mtcannabis.org or call 877-458-0888. Staff answer phones 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Call the office to be set up as a patient.
Williams will meet them to fill out paperwork. It takes a four-to
five-week period to process the paperwork and receive a card from the
state. From there, delivery will occur in seven days.

As a gardener for the company, Williams says growing the plants is
what he enjoys most. "It's my passion," he said, adding that he also
enjoys patient care which comes with criticism of the medicine. "Some
people are less forgiving."

In any case, Williams says the team of horticulturalists, botanists
and agriculturalists he works with are moving the science behind
cannabis forward, "so we can kind of lead the way in the country not
just in Montana."  
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D