U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., met with area officials in Sidney Wednesday to discuss ways to combat crime in the Bakken oilfield.

The largest issues, identified by Sidney Chief of Police Frank DiFonzo, were drug crimes and lack of resources. "It takes so much to organize and run a complicated drug investigation that I can't do that with my manpower," DiFonzo said. "We have enough challenges just maintaining the issues on the streets, but we can't ignore it either."

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In response to Steve Zabawa's effort to make any possession of marijuana illegal, I suggest that he try living with the chronic pain that many users have to deal with.

True, when the law was first enacted, people abused it, but that will happen with almost everything due to the current society we live in. As a former card carrier, I dare those who have never suffered from chronic pain to try tying off a part of their body to the point that it hurts, then try living with that pain 24/7/365. That might give people an idea of what it's like to live with chronic pain.

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HELENA - Montana's medical-marijuana law was back in court Tuesday, as an attorney for the drug's users and the industry argued that restrictive parts of the 2011 rewrite of marijuana rules should be permanently voided.

James Goetz, a Bozeman lawyer, said those provisions have been blocked by a court for almost three years, and yet the law is still curbing pre-2011 abuses that the Legislature wanted to address.

"We have kind of an experiment, we have actual evidence that certain features of the (law) were not necessary to accomplish its goals," he told District Judge James Reynolds of Helena. "The state's own witnesses have conceded that things are not only better, but much better."

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A Billings car-dealership owner has proposed a ballot measure that would completely ban the use and possession of marijuana in Montana, even for medical uses.

The proposal by Steve Zabawa would change state law to say any Schedule I drug in the federal Controlled Substances Act "may not be legally possessed, received, transferred, manufactured, cultivated, trafficked, transported or used in Montana."

The proposal submitted to the Montana Secretary of State's Office on Thursday aims is to eliminate the disparity between federal and state law in possessing and using marijuana, which is a Schedule I drug, Zabawa said in an email.

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HELENA - A Billings businessman has proposed an initiative for the November 2014 ballot that effectively would ban the possession, use, cultivation, trafficking and transportation of marijuana in Montana.

Steve Zabawa submitted the measure this week to Secretary of State Linda McCulloch's office.

If approved, it would change state law to say that any drug listed on Schedule 1 of the Federal Controlled Substances Act "may not be legally possessed, received, transferred, manufactured, cultivated, trafficked, transported or used in Montana."

Marijuana is listed on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act.

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Christi Turner's April 3 column was right on target (see "Nip it in the bud"). If marijuana were fully legal there would be no backcountry grows on public land. Legitimate farmers would produce it by the ton at a fraction of the current cost. There is a reason you don't see drug cartels sneaking into national forests to cultivate tomatoes and cucumbers. They cannot compete with a legal market.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a failure. The United States has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal.

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Let a Thousand Pot Plants Bloom and End Trespass Grows

If you care about protecting clean water, endangered species and public health, then you might want to consider legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

That's because so much of the stuff is now being grown illegally on our public lands in places dubbed "trespass grows." These secretive and often well-guarded farms do enormous environmental damage and place a huge burden on federal agencies. In California in 2013, the Forest Service discovered about 1 million plants within public forests on nearly 400 sites. Thousands of trees had been logged to make way for marijuana plants.

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Behind the Scenes of the State's First Open Needle Exchange

On a recent afternoon, a dark-haired woman picks out several syringes from a selection of injection drug paraphernalia setup in a downtown Missoula hallway. The state's first aboveground needle exchange includes everything from tourniquets to antiseptic wipes to tins known as "cookers."

At first glance, the woman doesn't look like anyone portrayed in the Montana Meth Project's jolting "Not Even Once" anti-drug ad campaign. She's not emaciated. Her clothes aren't dirty. She says she takes care of herself, eating and sleeping regularly.

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Commendable, refreshing for Obama to acknowledge marijuana propaganda is wrong I strongly disagree with Cherrie Brady, Laura Lee Needham and Susan Smith of Safe Community Safe Kids' (guest column, "Public deserves apology from Obama on marijuana," Feb. 5) disappointing and irresponsible viewpoint of President Obama.

It's commendable to keep cannabis (marijuana) away from children, however, using lies, half-truths and propaganda along with caging responsible adults who use the plant, is the wrong way to do it.

Citizens are waking up from decades of discredited prohibitionist government-subsidized propaganda, and it's commendable and refreshing that President Obama is acknowledging that fact.

Stan White,

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

There is a magic pill that cures addiction. It is used in other countries and used to be legal here. You take one pill, one time, and without going through the painful detox symptoms one normally experiences you emerge a clean, non-addict.

The success rate in the few studies that have been done show more than 85 percent of patients still clean after five years. It works for all types of addiction because the addiction is almost never to the drug itself but to the escape it offers from other problems. However, much like MDMA and PTSD, simply because others use a drug for fun means genuine patients in need must be denied.

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The folks at Safe Community Safe Kids had it backward in their column, "Public deserves apology from Obama on marijuana" (Feb. 5). The public should be thanking the president for finally telling the truth about marijuana.

In a recently published interview, the president acknowledged that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol in terms of its affect on the consumer. Comprehensive studies performed by the World Health Organization (Hall, Wayne, "A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine, and Opiate Use," University of New South Wales: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, 1995) and the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine ("Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999) have arrived at the same conclusion. Marijuana is less toxic than alcohol, less addictive, and less likely to contribute to serious health problems. It also does not contribute to violent and reckless behavior, which all too often accompanies drinking.

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President's full statement on marijuana sent message kids might listen to I read with interest "Public deserves apology from Obama on marijuana" (guest column, Feb. 5) and wonder why the President's entire statement regarding marijuana is not included in this piece? He is quoted out of context.

President Obama went on to clarify his marijuana-less-dangerous-than-pot position by stating "in terms of its impact on the individual consumer. It1s not something I encourage, and I've told my daughters I think it1s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy."

Now that's a message our kids might believe.

Peter Christopher,

Locust, N.J.

[end]

Safe Community Safe Kids aren't doing Montana children any favors with their reefer madness revival campaign (guest column, Feb. 5). Zero tolerance poses a greater threat to youth than marijuana. Most people outgrow their youthful indiscretions involving marijuana. An arrest and criminal record, on the other hand, can be life-shattering.

There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls.

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Re: "Public deserves apology from Obama on marijuana" (guest column, Feb. 5).

I'd like to add that the cannabis legalization issue is not whether cannabis is completely safe for everybody, including children and adolescents; it is not.

The issue is freedom of choice for adults. Children have died from eating peanuts and peanut butter but we don't cage peanut growers, sellers or consumers.

And the voters of Colorado and Washington state have decided that we should not cage cannabis growers, sellers or consumers.

Montana adults have the freedom of choice of whether or not to consume legal alcohol. Shouldn't they have the same freedom of choice regarding legal cannabis?

Kirk Muse,

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

Safe Community Safe Kids was formed by a group of parents out of concern for the unbridled spread of medical marijuana in Montana and its effect on our children, families and community. With the help from parents and others across the state, we were instrumental in passing legislation on this issue.

In 2011, the Montana Legislature passed a bill to repeal the 2004 voters' initiative on medical marijuana. When Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed this repeal bill, the Legislature unanimously passed another bill, Senate Bill 423. The governor refused to sign or veto this bill and because of his inaction the bill automatically became law.

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On a recent weekday afternoon, Tayln Lang greets a visitor to Rocky Mountain Cannabis on Orange Street with a wide smile. The longtime medical marijuana advocate launches into an animated explanation of the drug's ability to ease symptoms that stem from a range of ailments, including HIV, cancer and opiate addiction.

"I've seen wonderful, wonderful things happen," he says.

It's in part because Lang believes so vehemently in cannabis' healing properties and the importance of providing it to the people most in need that he's taken on the high-profile, yet potentially dangerous, role of managing Rocky Mountain's prominent storefront location.

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The law creating a limit for just how stoned a driver can be in Montana went into effect Oct. 1. Debate over the veracity of the new limit, however, continues.

The new statute says that if a driver is suspected of being under the influence of marijuana while operating a motor vehicle, a blood test may be requested to determine intoxication. If the blood test reveals a THC content of 5 ng/ml or higher in the driver's blood stream, the driver may be charged with a DUI, resulting in a possible license suspension, up to six months imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000.

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U.S. Says It Won't Intervene in States Where Drug Is Legal

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution, courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in Colorado and Washington state.

The agency last week said that even though the drug remains illegal under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that follow eight conditions.

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution, courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in Colorado and Washington state.

The agency said last week that even though the drug remains illegal under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that follow eight conditions.

"The DOJ is saying you guys need to color inside the lines," said Teri Robnett, founder of the Cannabis Patients Action Network, a Westminster, Colo.- based medical marijuana advocacy group.

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution, courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in Colorado and Washington state.

The agency said last week that even though the drug remains illegal under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that follow eight conditions.

"The DOJ is saying you guys need to color inside the lines," said Teri Robnett, founder of the Cannabis Patients Action Network, a Westminster, Colo.-based medical marijuana advocacy group. "If you color inside the lines, we'll let you keep your crayons.

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