HELENA - The number of medical marijuana cardholders continues to drop under a strict new state law, but an industry official said many ex-patients are turning instead to the illegal black market, a legislative committee heard Monday.

As of Aug. 31, Montana had about 25,500 medical marijuana cardholders, down nearly 16 percent from the 31,500 registered last May 31, according to a report presented to the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee.

The number of providers who sell medical marijuana to patients has plummeted by a far faster clip, from 4,650 on May 31 to just 285 on Aug. 31, or nearly 94 percent. Providers were known as caregivers under the previous law.

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Panelists Monday night for different reasons criticized the federal government for its handling of the medical marijuana issue.

Former U.S. Attorney William Mercer of Billings, and state Reps. Gary MacLaren, R-Victor, and Diane Sands, D-Missoula, discussed the tensions of changing federal policy on medical marijuana and its effect on Montana. Voters here, by a wide margin, had approved an initiative in 2004 to legalize the use of marijuana for certain medical reasons.

The panel discussion kicked off the conference, sponsored by the Burton K. Wheeler Center, on medical marijuana in Montana. It continues today at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel.

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The number of medical marijuana cardholders continues to drop under a stricter, new state law, but an industry official said many ex-patients are turning instead to the illegal black market, a legislative committee heard Monday.

As of Aug. 31, Montana had about 25,500 medical marijuana cardholders, down nearly 16 percent from the 31,500 registered as of May 31, according to a report presented to the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee.

What's more, the number of providers who sell medical marijuana to patients has plummeted by a far faster clip, from 4,650 on May 31 to 285 on Aug. 31, or nearly 94 percent. Providers were known as caregivers under the previous law.

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HELENA -- Panelists Monday night for different reasons criticized the federal government for its handling of the medical marijuana issue.

Former U.S. Attorney William Mercer of Billings, and state Reps. Gary MacLaren, R-Victor, and Diane Sands, D-Missoula, discussed the tensions of changing federal policy on medical marijuana and how its effect on Montana. Voters by a wide margin had approved an initiative in 2004 to legalize the use of marijuana for certain medical reasons.

The panel discussion kicked off the conference, sponsored by the Burton K. Wheeler Center, on medical marijuana in Montana, It continues Tuesday at the Red Lion Colonial Inn.

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There's good news and bad news for the state's medical marijuana patients and providers. The good news is that petitioners have gathered more than 30,000 signatures to place a referendum of Senate Bill 423--the Montana Legislature's measure severely restricting the medical marijuana industry--on the ballot in November 2012. That's more than the required 24,337 signatures due by Sept. 30, though county election offices haven't verified all of them.

The bad news is that petitioners have all but given up on the effort to have SB 423 suspended until voters weigh in. That requires as many as 43,247 signatures, and they must come from at least 15 percent of voters in each of at least 51 of the legislative representative districts, meaning a number of the 30,000 signatures already collected likely wouldn't count toward the total.

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The divisive medical marijuana issue is set for a discussion Monday night and Tuesday at a conference in Helena sponsored by the Burton K. Wheeler Center.

The conference, "Medical Marijuana: Thoughtful Questions, Responsible Answers," will be held at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel. The registration deadline is at 5 p.m. today for a $35 fee that covers a breakfast, lunch and materials. People may register at http://www.wheelercenter.org/#conferences_events .

So far, about 70 people have signed up.

"What the Wheeler Center hopes always to do is choose an issue that is of critical importance to the state of Montana," said Julie Hitchcock, its associate director. "And we certainly have that in medical marijuana. It most assuredly will be before the Legislature in 2013 and quite possibly before the electorate next fall."

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When the federal government wanted to make Montanans carry federal IDs, Gov. Schweitzer stepped up and said, "No way." We won't be able to count on Steve Bullock to do the same and stand up for the citizens when the federal government oversteps its bounds. He's been Mr. No Comment when it comes to the fact that federal agents came over our borders and raided medical marijuana businesses.

If those businesses were breaking state laws, why didn't Bullock's office deal with it? Once the feds step in, we'll never know if Montana law-abiding citizens are being locked up by the federal government. Bullock is no Schweitzer.

Erin Bell

Belgrade

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A group of folks gathered around a grill at the East Gallatin Recreation Area early Saturday afternoon, hanging out and exercising the principles of democracy.

Around 65 people showed up to sign a petition for Initiative Referendum 124 and support Patients for Reform Not Repeal, the group pushing to let Montana voters decide in November 2012 if they want to keep the medicinal marijuana law passed early this summer.

Several petition sheets were filled out over the course of the three-hour event, said Whitney Buckman, volunteer and harvesting consultant with Redtop Organics Industries.

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Voters voted in access to medical marijuana. The Legislature repealed it with the law they passed. The courts declared that the law likely has unconstitutional provisions.

Steve Bullock's office is fighting the court decision and supporting the end to access to medical marijuana. He's defending unconstitutional provisions of a law passed by a Legislature with one of the lowest approval ratings ever. Yeah, I want this guy for governor.

Misty Carey

Bozeman

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When a person suffers from a mental illness and has problems with mood-altering substances - drugs such as prescription medications, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, marijuana, etc. and alcohol - we call this "dual diagnosis."

Professionals often call this substance abuse or substance dependency, depending on specific criteria. Mental illnesses that often occur with substance abuse are mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders such as panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorders.

The American Medical Association notes that "roughly 50 percent of individuals with severe mental disorders are affected by substance abuse" and "37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness."

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Montanans Confront a Dubious Weapon in the War on Drugs

On the morning of March 14, Chris Williams set out on foot with his two dogs for the 2.5-mile walk to his East Helena-based medical marijuana business, Montana Cannabis. After a long winter, the weather was finally warmer. The hound and the pit bull nipped at one another and pulled on their leather leashes. Pigeons cooed from a trestle above him.

Williams's mellow mood turned to curiosity when he saw a sheriff's car leading a line of unmarked cars down Euclid Avenue. "I thought, 'Oh well, maybe it's a funeral," he recalls. When several more cars joined the caravan, Williams saw that their business looked more urgent. "Then it registered with me, when my employee comes driving back the other way on the road: 'Oh shit, they probably just raided us.'...My worst worry was that they hurt someone."

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HELENA- A Billings woman has proposed changing the Montana Constitution so that voters would have to approve any attempts by the Legislature to amend or repeal a ballot measure previously enacted by Montanans.

Michelle Hutsell, part of a group known as the Montana Coalition for Rights, last week submitted a proposed constitutional initiative to Secretary of State Linda McCulloch. That in turn triggers a review of the proposed ballot language by several state agencies before backers of the measure can begin gathering signatures.

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A Miles City family of medical marijuana growers pleaded not guilty Wednesday to updated federal charges stemming from coordinated raids on marijuana businesses around the state last spring.

Richard Flor, 67, his wife Sherry Flor, 54, and their son Justin Flor, were arraigned via video in U.S. District Court in Missoula on 12 charges ranging from conspiracy, the manufacture and distribution of marijuana, money laundering and firearms violations.

The Flors are accused of growing marijuana in their home as well as in Helena and Three Forks, and conspiring to distribute it around the state, including in Missoula, according to charging documents.

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The fallout from a coordinated series of federal raids on medical marijuana businesses around Montana continued Tuesday, with a Kalispell man pleading guilty to a federal charge in connection with the sweeps.

Tyler Roe, 29, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Missoula to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. As part of a plea agreement, charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana were dropped.

Roe was among four Flathead County men charged after federal agents executed 26 search warrants across Montana on March 12, the same day as a legislative hearing on whether to repeal or tighten Montana's medical marijuana law.

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Confessions of a Pothead

Stale smoke hangs forever in the air at Jack's apartment. There's a giant Bob Marley poster and two bookcases filled with boy-movie DVDs. The furniture is obscenely comfortable, especially the huge, shapeless chair they call "the poof." The TV is always on. Jack--not his real name--and his roommate love old, terrible movies. They own every episode of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000," from Joel, to Mike, to when Pearl took over as villain and the show left Comedy Central.

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A Lincoln woman on probation is asking a judge to consider letting her continue using medical cannabis despite a new state law that prohibits people on probation from having the state-issued medical marijuana cards.

If she succeeds, it could give about 1,000 medical marijuana cardholders who are under Department of Corrections supervision a chance at keeping or obtaining the cards despite the medical marijuana overhaul passed by the legislature this year, Senate Bill 423, which says "a person may not be a registered cardholder if the person is in custody of or under the supervision of corrections or a youth court."

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Nearly two months after a district judge ruled that medical marijuana could be sold in Montana, at least a few local businesses that had closed are reopening their doors -- taking another chance on an industry deemed illegal under federal law.

Caregivers opening and closing their shops is just one sign of the uncertainty as to medical marijuana's legality in Montana, an issue that continues to be in limbo.

"This issue is not going to be settled for some time," said Kate Cholewa, a spokeswoman for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. "I wouldn't expect anything final for a long time."

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Montana voters made their compassionate intentions clear when they created the state's medical marijuana program in 2004. People with cancer, HIV/AIDs, chronic pain and other conditions should have the legal right to use cannabis safely as part of their medical treatment.

The measure received 62 percent of the vote, a national record for this type of program. It was democracy in action.

The 2011 Legislature's repeal of that policy is a blatant attempt to revoke patients' rights and overturn the will of the voters. The repeal is both cruel and undemocratic. And, for me it is very personal.

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HELENA - A medical marijuana advocacy group has made an urgent plea for money to pay its legal bills for challenging a new law and to help a separate committee cover its consulting fees for its signature-gathering referendum campaign.

"We need at least 1,000 people to donate $25 or $50, and we need at least 50 storefronts to donate at least $1,000 THIS WEEK," the Montana Cannabis Industry Association's spokeswoman Kate Cholewa wrote on its website Aug. 15.

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A medical marijuana advocacy group has made an urgent plea for money to pay its legal bills for challenging a new law and to help a separate committee cover its consulting fees for its signature-gathering referendum campaign.

"We need at least 1,000 people to donate $25 or $50, and we need at least 50 storefronts to donate at least $1,000 THIS WEEK," the Montana Cannabis Industry Association's spokeswoman Kate Cholewa wrote on its website Aug. 15.

She added, "We cannot count on a few large donors to fund these necessary efforts. Bottom-line, the progress we've made will unravel without support now."

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