Pubdate: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 Source: Helena Independent Record (MT) Copyright: 2011 Helena Independent Record Contact: http://helenair.com/app/contact/letters_to_editor/ Website: http://helenair.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1187 Author: Charles S. Johnson, IR State Bureau PANEL ASKS FOR TIGHTER RULES ON CANNABIS A Senate panel on Monday requested a bill to be drafted to impose strict regulations on medical marijuana to make it harder for people to obtain cards to legally use it, eliminate the storefront dispensaries and squeeze money out of the industry by requiring growers to be nonprofits. The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, said afterward the proposed bill, if approved, would go into place if the current law authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes is repealed, as House Bill 161, by Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, would do. HB161 passed the House, but deadlocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. "The No. 1 goal is to reduce access and availability to the young people of this state that are being sent an incorrect message that this is an acceptable product for them to be using," Essmann said in a later interview. "It's a controlled substance under federal law. It's illegal under federal law. We know that (with) all addictive substances, the earlier that you use alcohol or use marijuana, the greater the addictive effect is on a developing brain. Essmann said he wants to see medical marijuana storefronts and advertising eliminated. "We can't have storefronts legitimizing this one block from seventh- and eighth-graders like I have inside my districts," he said. "The storefront dispensaries have to be removed from our communities, and the sooner the better. Essmann said he believes the current medical marijuana law needs to be repealed to make the subcommittee proposal work. "I definitely feel repeal of the existing act is necessary and we just have to figure out how to meld those two concepts together at this point and how to make it work from a time standpoint," he said. Reaction was mixed after the meeting. "I think a workable regulatory framework is emerging from this," said Jim Smith, who represents county attorneys and sheriffs. "I think we could make this work under the sort of structure (Essmann) laid out today." Tom Daubert, a leading author of the voter-passed initiative, said, "If a new bill passes that can work for legitimate patients, there's no need for repeal." Any bill draft would have to be approved by the subcommittee and then the full Judiciary Committee before going to the Senate floor for debate. The House also would have to concur. Here are elements that the subcommittee asked to be drafted into a bill: - -- Include parts of an interim committee's bill requiring background checks, fingerprinting and licensing for medical marijuana businesses. - -- Add language from New Mexico to require a second physician with experience in serious pain modulation to review any requests for medical marijuana cards by people who say they have serious and chronic pain. - -- Require the Department of Public Health and Human Services to report to the state Board of Medical Examiners when a physician has recommended more than a certain number of people for medical marijuana to make sure they are observing the board's standards of care. That number has yet to be determined. A physician would have to have a relationship with a patient for six months and at least four patient visits over that period to recommend the patient use medical pot. - -- Restrict the use of telemedicine to recommend that people obtain medical marijuana cards. - -- Use the New Mexico model to allow registered cardholders to grow a set number of marijuana plants and seedlings with the help of a volunteer assistant. - -- Implement a system for cardholders who are in nursing homes, rental property or other places where they can't grow medical marijuana. They could be allowed to buy it from a nonprofit registered grower who would ship the marijuana to them via a courier delivery system. - -- Eliminate all marijuana storefront dispensaries. - -- Prohibit all marketing and advertising for medical marijuana. - -- Ban the export and import of medical marijuana. - -- Limit the cardholders to Montana residents only. - -- Require a second physician to review any attempts to authorize medical marijuana for minors. - -- Remove the term "medical marijuana" and replace it with "therapeutic marijuana." - -- Put in a licensing system for derivative products made from marijuana such as tinctures, oils, butters and other substances. - -- Ban smoking of medical marijuana in public places. - -- Authorize local governments to set zoning restrictions on medical marijuana businesses. - -- Repeal the affirmative defense that now can be used by "qualifying patients" who are caught with marijuana but who don't have medical marijuana cards, although they could be eligible for them. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.