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MEDICAL MARIJUANA FILM TOUR COMES TO MANHATTAN

On the first chilly fall evening in October, a few people sat in chairs in the Manhattan Community School Library.  The superintendent of Manhattan schools was there.  A couple of residents from the area and members of the American Civil Liberties Union occupied a few more chairs.

The librarians made bags of popcorn and pulled down the projector screen for a movie.  Whether the audience that might have filled the empty chairs was home watching the presidential debate or absent in an act of opposition, few showed up Wednesday night for the screening of Code of the West.

The documentary, by accomplished director Rebecca Richman Cohen, captures and chronicles the ongoing medical marijuana debate in the state.  Since 2010, Cohen and her crew compiled stories from around the state; stories from the founding four that ran the largest medical marijuana grow-house in the state, stories from an old woman dying of cancer, stories of the mothers who believe marijuana is a gateway drug for children.

The film is being screened in small town's across Montana as part of the film crew's attempt to foster a discussion about the hotbed issue.

Code of the West gives a background of Montana's medical marijuana history, starting in 2004 when 62 percent of state residents voted in favor of legalizing cannabis for the terminally sick or chronically pained.

The documentary cuts to more troubled times, 2010 and 2011, when dispensaries with bold storefronts were operating in what FBI agents called a billion dollar industry.  On one day alone FBI agents raided and effectively closed down more than 20 dispensaries.  Most pot businesses said they never understood why they were raided since they were complying with state laws.

Mark Long, the chief of the Montana Narcotics Bureau explains in the film that he deals with the crooks who are misusing the marijuana law far too often.

"Some patients are subverting the intent of the law," he said.  "There are doctors recommending marijuana for patients without pain."

The employees of the giant grow-house, Montana Cannabis, out of Billings, had a much different view.  The business owners said they operated within state guidelines, using high standards of professionalism to run Montana Cannabis.  They sold to the ill and aching, they said, not crooks.

Of the co-owners of Montana Cannabis, two made plea deals for hard time and probation while another died in prison before receiving medical treatment.

The rest of the film depicts the ongoing struggle between legislators, medical marijuana dispensaries and federal authorities throwing their weight into the state issue.

After the movie, Montana ACLU Executive Director Scott Crichton facilitated a short discussion in the Manhattan Library.  He asked Superintendent of Manhattan Schools Jim Notaro how he felt about the documentary.

"I know drugs are a problem with students around the country," Notaro said.  "The idea that medical marijuana added to the delinquency, I want to explore that more."

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey that asks teens to anonymously self-report their drug and alcohol use was mentioned in the documentary.  Statistics from that survey show that there has not been an increase in the number of students who use marijuana since the passage of the medical marijuana bill.

Even on that fact basis, the issue continues to polarize Montanans.

Some people didn't show up to the screenings around the state for fear of having their photo taken, or their name jotted down, Crichton said.  On the other side of the fence were the folks who didn't show up because they thought playing a movie about marijuana was inappropriate in the school setting, Notaro said.

In November, Montana voters will decide whether to revert to the old, less-regulated 2004 medical marijuana law or except the strict government overhaul from 2011.

As Crichton and the ACLU advocates say at screenings, the choice is a personal one.

"This is an issue of bodily autonomy," Crichton said.  "We are always standing up for the right of people to have control over their own bodies."