The Montana Supreme Court Friday upheld a lower court ruling that hashish and hash oil are not considered marijuana under the state's medical marijuana law. The case arose from the June 2010, arrest of Buddy Wade Pirello on Interstate 90 in Mineral County after a law enforcement officer searched his vehicle and found drug paraphernalia, three marijuana cigarettes, 20 small baggies of marijuana totaling 52 grams (exceeding the amount medical marijuana cardholders are permitted), plus two one-gram bottles, labeled "hash," with liquid in each. [continues 243 words]
Two more people connected with a medical marijuana business on Jellison Road were sentenced to prison in federal court, including the head of an operation prosecutors claim did business across the U.S. According to court documents, Christopher Durbin, 33, of Oregon and Whitefish, owned and operated several businesses in the Flathead Valley, including Four Seasons Gardening, Northern Lights Medical and Good Medicine Providers, all located on Jellison Road in Columbia Falls. Four Seasons sold grow equipment for medical marijuana providers and other people, Northern Lights helped individuals get a medical marijuana patient card, and Good Medicine was a medical marijuana dispensary. [continues 338 words]
The Montana Supreme Court recently upheld a ruling by a Flathead County district court judge relating to the sentencing of two medical marijuana providers who were arrested in the Canyon last year. In the 5-0 ruling, the high court agreed that it is illegal under the 2009 Medical Marijuana Act for caregivers to exchange marijuana with other caregivers. According to court records, Lief Erickson, 48, and Robin Ruiz, 52, both of Kalispell, were stopped by law enforcement on U.S. 2 near Lake Five Road on Feb. 3, 2011. A search of their vehicle turned up more than three pounds of marijuana, 300 capsules containing THC and five vials of suspected THC honey. [continues 459 words]
In a lengthy complaint with footnotes about the "f" word and being vegan, Jason Christ is suing the Missoula Police Department, Missoula County Attorney's Office, Missoula County 9-1-1, and other parties in U.S. District Court. Christ, a medical marijuana businessman, is asking for $50 million in punitive damages, among other demands, for the defendants' "willful and malicious actions" that have caused him "emotional distress." Court documents note Christ, representing himself, is so harassed by the law that the city and county have lost him income, "affected his bodily functions" and forced him to camp "down a vast network of unimproved dirt roads." [continues 787 words]
Montana Supreme Court justices on Wednesday wrestled with the legal issue of whether people have a fundamental, constitutional right to sell medical marijuana, which is legal under state law, but illegal under federal law. A state attorney urged the Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court ruling that struck down part of the law, passed by the 2011 Legislature, that in essence banned the commercial sales of medical marijuana. Assistant Attorney General James Molloy said state District Judge James Reynolds of Helena used the wrong legal standard in blocking that part of the law that forbids any payment to those growing medical marijuana. [continues 748 words]
HELENA Montana Supreme Court justices on Wednesday wrestled with the legal issue of whether people have a fundamental, constitutional right to sell medical marijuana, which is legal under state law, but illegal under federal law. A state attorney urged the Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court ruling that struck down part of the law, passed by the 2011 Legislature, that in essence banned the commercial sales of medical marijuana. Assistant Attorney General James Molloy said state District Judge James Reynolds, of Helena, used the wrong legal standard in blocking that part of the law that forbids any payment to those growing medical marijuana. [continues 749 words]
HELENA - The Montana Attorney General's office will make its case Wednesday to the state Supreme Court that the commercial sale of medical marijuana should be halted. Assistant Attorney General Jim Molloy is set to argue that District Judge James Reynolds improperly blocked that portion of the new medical marijuana law passed by the 2011 Legislature. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs led by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association say that Reynolds should have gone further and blocked the entire law, not just the provision keeping marijuana providers from making a profit. They will ask the state's high court to do so until their lawsuit can be heard. [continues 498 words]
HELENA - The Montana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on separate appeals filed by a medical marijuana industry group and the state of Montana. They are appealing separate portions of a 2011 District Court decision that temporarily blocked parts of a much stricter 2011 state law from being implemented. The court will hear the case of Montana Cannabis Industry Association and others against the state at 9:30 a.m. in the court's chambers on the third floor of the Justice and State Library Building, 215 N. Sanders. [continues 641 words]
The Montana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday on separate appeals filed by a medical marijuana industry group and the state of Montana. They are appealing separate portions of a 2011 District Court decision that temporarily blocked parts of a much stricter 2011 state law from being implemented. The court will hear the case of Montana Cannabis Industry Association and others against the state at 9:30 a.m. in the court's chambers on the third floor of the Justice and State Library Building, 215 N. Sanders. [continues 642 words]
A Flathead County landlord who rented warehouse space to a marijuana grow operation was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in a federal prison. Jonathan Janetski, 36, of Whitefish, also will be on supervised release for three years, and must pay a $100 fine, according to the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy. "Janetski owned the location and assisted in transforming the building into a large marijuana plant-growing facility. ... The co-conspirators helped grow hundreds of marijuana plants," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a prepared statement. [continues 70 words]
A new documentary on medical marijuana raised some old issues in Missoula during a discussion following Tuesday's Montana premiere of "Code of the West." The film by Rebecca Richman Cohen traces the 2011 legislative battle to revise or outright repeal Montana's 2004 voter-approved law legalizing the medical use of cannabis. That fight and the simultaneous federal raids that helped lead to the near-shutdown of Montana's medical marijuana industry has made for "the perfect storm of a legal mess" surrounding the drug in Montana, said former Congressman Pat Williams, who moderated the discussion. [continues 515 words]
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. [continues 533 words]
A Helena lawyer is asking a federal court judge to throw out the charges against his client, saying that the U.S. Attorney's office has no right to "veto" Montana voters' approval of medical marijuana. Michael Donahoe, a federal defense attorney, said that the federal government "selectively targeted" medical marijuana cultivators and dispensers like his client, Chris Williams, who is a founding member of Montana Cannabis. Donahoe is asking that the case against Williams be dropped. In addition, Donahoe argues in court documents filed this week in U.S. District Court that the federal government's prosecution of medical marijuana providers violates the U.S. Constitution by a "direct and intended" encroachment on Montana's governmental rights under the "Guarantee Clause" of Article 4. [continues 386 words]
A documentary that follows the medical marijuana political debate in Montana, as well as its impacts on people's lives, will be shown in Helena later this month, followed by a panel discussion. "Code of the West" is a film by Rebecca Richman Cohen. In a news release for the movie, she notes how Montana is "at the forefront of national attention" when it comes to medical marijuana. "Once a pioneer in legalizing medical marijuana, the state of Montana is poised to become the first in the nation to repeal its medical marijuana law," Cohen wrote. "Set against the sweeping vistas of the Rockies, the steamy lamplight of marijuana grow houses, and the bustling halls of the State Capitol, 'Code of the West' follows the 2011 Montana State Legislature as it debates the fate of medical marijuana. [continues 553 words]
An activist who long advocated for strict regulation of Montana's once-booming medical marijuana industry pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal drug charge. "I'm an honest person. I plead guilty," Tom Daubert told U.S. Magistrate Jeremiah Lynch in response to a charge of conspiracy to maintain drug-involved premises. Daubert, 59, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and three years' supervised probation. Lynch set sentencing for Sept. 6. Under a plea agreement, Daubert will pay a total fine of $50,000. However, any possible prison time won't be known until Judge Dana Christensen sentences him. [continues 313 words]
HELENA -- The number of registered marijuana cardholders in Montana fell below 12,000 as of March 31 for the first time in two years. A total of 11,993 cardholders had registered as of March 31 with the program run by the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. That's the fewest cardholders, formerly called patients, in Montana since the 12,081 who registered as of March 31, 2010. In addition, there were 421 medical marijuana providers, previously called caregivers, registered with the state as of March 31. They are legally authorized to grow and sell marijuana to licensed cardholders. Those numbers plummeted after peaking at 4,848 in March 2011. [continues 513 words]
Montana ranks ninth among the top 17 states for marijuana use among teens, which is predictable, according to local law enforcement officials who blame the state's "goofy" and "convoluted" marijuana laws. "This comes as no surprise," said Billings Deputy Police Chief Tim O'Connell. "We are definitely seeing an increase in the schools, and it's definitely related to bad legislation. We can thank the passage of legalizing marijuana. The laws aren't clear." [continues 653 words]
HELENA - Four of the six medical marijuana providers who are suing the U.S. government over last year's raids of pot businesses across Montana have been arrested on federal drug charges, their lawyer in the civil lawsuit said Tuesday. The medical marijuana businesses of the four plaintiffs arrested Tuesday and last Thursday were among more than 26 homes, businesses and warehouses searched in sweeping raids last spring that shut down many providers and cast a pall over Montana's booming pot business. [continues 593 words]
Sheriff Linder did a grave injustice to few thousand Billings voters who will be looking to vote against him in his upcoming election in 2014. He allowed or encouraged the feds to raid medical marijuana providers. They were fully in compliance with the new laws. Hundreds of medical marijuana patients were affected. There are multiple-sclerosis patients who have found strains to help them, now worried. There are cancer patients who have lost tinctures which were helping them deal with chemotherapy. The sheriff is the chief elected law enforcement officer of our county, but did not defend state authorized businesses. He's looking for a slice of the asset forfeiture pie to buy new laptops. There is a clear Supreme Court ruling, Printz v. United States. This says for local sheriffs "the Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program." So standing behind the Controlled Substances Act is preposterous. Josh Daniels Billings [end]
Inside Montana
