Pubdate: Thu, 17 May 2012
Source: Great Falls Tribune (MT)
Copyright: 2012 Great Falls Tribune
Contact: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2502
Author: John S. Adams

FILM ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGISLATION IN MONTANA TO SHOW AROUND STATE THIS WEEK

HELENA - As Montana medical marijuana business owners face federal
charges across Montana, a newly produced documentary film, "Code of
the West," is screening in four communities across the state this week.

Director Rebecca Richman Cohen and her crew spent nearly two years
researching, filming and editing the new documentary, which tells the
emotional story of the debate surrounding legislative efforts to amend
- - and repeal - the 2004 voter-approved law legalizing medical
marijuana use by certain patients.

Cohen will screen "Code of the West" in theaters across the state this
week. Screenings and post-screening panel discussions with
high-profile figures from across the political spectrum will take
place in Missoula, Bozeman, Helena and Billings in the coming week.

"Code of the West" documents the 2011 Montana Legislature as it
debated marijuana regulation and repeal of the Montana Medical
Marijuana Act, which Montana voters passed with 62 percent in favor in
2004.

The film follows central figures in the debate, including Tom Daubert,
a longtime lobbyist for environmental and public health-related issues
including medical marijuana. Daubert recently reached a plea agreement
with federal prosecutors after federal agents raided his former
business, Montana Cannabis, in March 2011.

Daubert's former colleagues, co-owners of Montana Cannabis, also face
federal indictments.

Daubert joined the "Code of the West" post-screening panel discussion
in Billings on Tuesday at the Alberta Bair Theater.

On the other side of the debate, the documentary follows advocates of
the medical marijuana repeal effort, including Cherrie Brady of Safe
Communities Safe Kids and Montana House Speaker Mike Milburn,
R-Cascade, who sponsored the bill to repeal the medical marijuana
initiative and make all marijuana use again a crime.

Milburn will participate in the film's panel discussion in Helena
today at the Myrna Loy Center. Cherrie Brady sat on the Billings
post-screening panel.

"Even in the couple of years we've had medical marijuana, it has
changed the culture of Montana," Milburn said in the film, "But we are
still living under the federal law and that makes it hard to even come
up with a legitimate state law."

Cohen - the Emmy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker, writer and
director of "Code of the West" - began researching Montana's medical
marijuana law in July 2010 and came to the state on a research trip in
August of that year.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical
marijuana in some form, yet the federal government doesn't recognize
any legitimate medical use of the drug.

Cohen said she wanted to document the social and political challenges
of a state struggling to regulate a drug that remains illegal under
federal law.

"While the film follows a story that is unique and specific to
Montana, this political debate and its implications are relevant
nationwide," Cohen said. "People were really divided in Montana. Most
folks were not satisfied with how the law was implemented when we
started filming in 2010. It raised really hard questions."

While Milburn's repeal bill passed the Montana Legislature, Democratic
Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the measure. Then, on the final day of
the 2011 Legislature, lawmakers sent Schweitzer a bill that
drastically limited the medical marijuana industry and outlaws profits
for medical marijuana caregivers.

Schweitzer signed Senate Bill 423.

As of March 31, 2012, the Montana Marijuana Program under the
Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 11,993 medical
marijuana cardholders. Prior to the passage of SB 423, the number of
medical marijuana cardholders peaked at 31,522.

Opponents of SB 423 have collected enough signatures to put a Montana
Medical Marijuana Referendum on the Nov. 6, 2012, ballot. If passed,
the measure would repeal SB 423.

The Montana Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on May
30 on an appeal of a Helena district judge's ruling blocking portions
of SB 423 from taking effect. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D