In response to public outcry over the unregulated, out-of-control medical marijuana industry, the Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill 423. After months of deliberation and thousands of testimonies from each side, this bill passed with the support of both Republicans and Democrats.

Even though the bill is not in full effect yet, it has put some very needed and welcomed sideboards on this rapidly growing industry. Since its passing, the number of registered medical marijuana users has dropped from 30,000 to 8,849, the number of providers has dropped from 4,800 to 395, and many of the storefronts are disappearing. With the law imposing additional requirements for minors to obtain cards, Montana now has only two cards holders under the age of 18.

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HELENA - As Chris Williams waited for a 12-member jury to decide his fate last month on eight marijuana-related charges, he was surprisingly calm for a man who knew he could be jailed for 85 years. He mentioned that he had taken a nap and was reading a book, "Ethics for a New Millennium" by the Dalai Lama.

"I was almost finished with it, but continued to reread some of the most enlightening chapters," Williams wrote in a letter from his cell at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. "The study of philosophy and religion has always interested me, even though I am not the most educated in either subject."

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Chris Williams Is a Complex Man

Former Medical Marijuana Provider Painted As 'Compassionate,' 'Intimidating'

As Chris Williams waited for a 12-member jury to decide his fate last month on eight marijuana-related charges, he was surprisingly calm for a man who knew he could be jailed for 85 years. He mentioned that he had taken a nap and was reading a book, "Ethics for a New Millennium" by the Dalai Lama.

"I was almost finished with it, but continued to reread some of the most enlightening chapters," Williams wrote in a letter from his cell at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. "The study of philosophy and religion has always interested me, even though I am not the most educated in either subject."

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Seasoned politicians will affirm that no one lacking a cast iron stomach should witness the making of sausage or law. Either can be traumatic.

It is bad enough if these products are created in a butcher shop or legislative chambers. But law (or sausage) made in the street will twist the entrails of the most durable citizen.

I have tasted a bit of each of these practices. In addition: I have been bitten on the great toe by an ant as big as a young mouse, sat through every syllable of a 90-minute speech at a Head Start graduation and lived on yellow vegetables for 18 days.

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Former medical marijuana entrepreneur Jason Christ has been banned from the University of Montana campus after allegedly smoking marijuana in the law school, cursing someone upon being told UM President Royce Engstrom wasn't available, and cursing another person as he sought a parking pass refund.

A memo from Sgt. Ben Gladwin from the UM Office of Public Safety, successfully seeking to permanently bar Christ from campus, cited the following allegations:

Shortly after 10 p.m. on Oct. 15, campus police responding to a report that a man was smoking marijuana in the law school encountered Christ, who gave them his medical marijuana card when asked for identification.

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A press conference to charge Attorney General Steve Bullock of botching medical marijuana ballot language quickly soured on pot opponents who found themselves accused of blowing smoke.

The anti-medical marijuana group Safe Communities, Safe Kids was staging a press conference Wednesday to announce a political practice complaint against Steve Bullock, when gate-crashing medical marijuana proponents and even a member of Bullock's staff interrupted to deride the charges as election foolery.

"You're trying to pull a political stunt using a mechanism that is not set up for this purpose," said Jim Molloy, an assistant attorney general to Bullock.

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The attorney for Christopher Williams filed a motion Friday seeking an acquittal or at least a new trial for his client, saying U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen erred when giving the jury instructions in the only medical marijuana case in Montana to go to trial.

The 12-member jury convicted Williams in Helena on Sept. 27 on eight counts, including conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana; manufacture of marijuana; possession with intent to distribute marijuana; and four counts of possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. Since the firearm offenses carry a mandatory minimum of five years to life imprisonment, plus mandatory minimums of 25 years for second and subsequent convictions, Williams could be facing a minimum of 80 years in prison.

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Montana voters on Nov. 6 will approve or reject five ballot items including whether to require parental notification before a minor's abortion and whether to declare that corporations do not have constitutional rights regarding campaign spending. But along with citizen lawmakers in five other states, marijuana-related ballot initiatives will, in the long run, have a far greater impact nationally.

Medical marijuana has already been approved in Montana. Voters in two states, Massachusetts and Arkansas, will decide if marijuana can be used for medical purposes with the advice of a licensed doctor. If passed, Massachusetts will join nearby states -- Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island -- where the drug is already used to ease pain caused by cancer and other serious medical conditions.

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Does the will of the people continue to have any meaning in Montana?

Not if the politicians have anything to do with it. Never before has a voter passed initiative been overturned by the Legislature.

If the voters approve IR 124, the bill repealing Medical Cannabis, it may be the first time, but make no mistake, not be the last.

Folks like Larry Jent and Mike Milburn, who have no problem telling you how you cannot think for yourself, gleefully admit SB 423 was in fact a repeal of the 60+ percent voter-approved medical cannabis law.

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Let's start by clearing up any confusion about Initiative 124.

Voter approval would cement restrictions on medical marijuana approved by the 2011 Legislature.

Rejection would restore the 2004 voter-approved law that legalized the medical use of marijuana in Montana.

So - "for 124" is for extensive restrictions. "Against" ditches them in favor of the less severe 2004 law.

"Trying to explain what will happen under (the initiative) is a little bit ridiculous," said Bob Brigham, campaign manager for Patients for Reform, Not Repeal. "It's tough to convince people that it will actually be that bad."

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Let's start by clearing up any confusion about Initiative 124.

Voter approval would cement restrictions on medical marijuana approved by the 2011 Legislature.

Rejection would restore the 2004 voter-approved law that legalized the medical use of marijuana in Montana.

So - for 124 is for extensive restrictions. Against ditches them in favor of the less severe 2004 law.

"Trying to explain what will happen under (the initiative) is a little bit ridiculous," said Bob Brigham, campaign manager for Patients for Reform, Not Repeal. "It's tough to convince people that it will actually be that bad."

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Let us assume for a moment that I have discovered, while studying dandelion plants and how they regenerate, that if one collects and crushes enough of these seeds amounting to a 16th ounce of dandelion powder and further discovers that ingesting at least this much daily, I am relieved of an excruciating pain that I experience frequently from a spinal arthritic inflammation. Now suppose that I have discontinued the use of the expensive prescription drug issued by my rheumatologist after I have discovered that there seemed to be no adverse affects from the ingestion of this dandelion powder and I have decided that though the collection and grinding of these seeds is time consuming and labor intensive that it is worth it to save a few thousand dollars via self-medication.

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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.

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HELENA - In 2004, Montana voters legalized medical marijuana by a higher percentage than any other state in the nation.

Sixty-two percent of the state's electorate voted in favor of the Montana Medical Marijuana act, making marijuana legal to treat the symptoms of certain ailments and conditions.

For five years, the number of people who registered with the state as marijuana patients and caregivers grew at a relatively slow pace.

That changed in 2009 when U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden issued a memo advising U.S. attorneys in states with medical marijuana laws to not focus federal resources "on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana."

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Chris Williams, who wanted to challenge the federal government over its handling of medical marijuana prosecutions in Montana, was led to jail in handcuffs Thursday after 12 jurors convicted him of eight drug- and firearms-related charges.

Williams sat quietly and unemotionally, with his hands folded on the table in front of him, as the three men and nine women, their voices shaking at times, told the court that their verdict was unanimous.

His attorney, Michael Donahoe, requested that Williams not be detained until sentencing, noting that he's already working on an appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

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Federal defense attorney Michael Donahoe requested a mistrial Thursday in the medical marijuana case of Chris Williams after prosecutor Joe Thaggard compared Williams and his partners to dogs.

In his closing statement, Thaggard told the jury that Williams was involved in criminal conduct and when he did that, he would get involved with bad people.

"If you lie down with dogs, you just might get fleas, and you can't say you didn't know that would happen," Thaggard said.

Donahoe objected, but was overruled by U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen. However, after the jury left the courtroom, Donahoe moved for a mistrial based on the statement.

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On the issue of Senate Bill 423, which puts ridiculous regulations on medical marijuana: if you are in favor of this bill, you are not seeing the big picture.

Put the marijuana to the side for a moment. The people of Montana voted for a bill to legalize something that helped hurt or sick people to live a more comfortable life. There were no problems with this substance, other than the Legislature seeing it as a booming industry that they had no control over. That, my friends, is what this whole mess is all about: government control.

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HELENA - A jury on Thursday convicted a medical marijuana provider of drug trafficking and firearms charges, upholding the U.S. government's raids of state-regulated pot dispensaries in its first test at trial.

The provider, Chris Williams, was barred by the trial judge from making the case that he and Montana Cannabis followed the state medical marijuana law that voters approved in 2004. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled state laws were irrelevant in the case involving alleged violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

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Montana voters support the more restrictive medical marijuana law and strongly back a ballot issue requiring girls under age 16 to get parental consent before having an abortion, a new Lee Newspapers poll shows.

They also favor another ballot issue that would deny state services to "illegal aliens."

Mason Dixon Polling & Research Inc. took the poll Monday through Wednesday for Lee Newspapers, interviewing 625 registered voters who said they were likely to vote in November. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, although the margin rises with subgroups like gender.

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Thanks to the petition efforts of last year, Montana voters will have the opportunity this November to accept or deny SB 423, the new medical marijuana law. However, in talking to people recently, I have found that many of us are not really aware of what this law entails. While this law is being presented as the tighter regulation that medical marijuana does in fact need, the actual effect will be to eliminate the entire industry overnight.

Among other questionable aspects of the new law, SB 423 would make it illegal for any medical marijuana caregiver to charge money for their service and product. Clearly no business can operate under these conditions. I am not trying to tell anyone how they should vote. I just want to do my best to make sure everyone understands what the new law would entail.

Local businessmen will lose their investment. Local jobs will be lost. Many of us believe that by saying no to this draconian law, we can pressure the next legislative session to present a reasonable middle ground.

Davin Nelson

Livingston

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