As a patient, a caregiver and mother of a patient here in Montana, I find it amazing that people in Billings are not in an outrage at our City Council. On Nov. 9, 2009, our City Council voted to do nothing about zoning medical marijuana dispensaries as they were waiting to see what supply and demand brought to our city. Evidently they did not mind taking our money for business licenses that were signed by Mayor Hanel himself.

Some months later a couple hysterical mothers, who evidently have no control over what their children do, began fear-mongering tactics. The same moms and a handful of their minions began a fear campaign saying cannabis was only for the terminally ill. Nowhere in Initiative 148 does it say or suggest one must have a life-threatening illness. It does, however, say "debilitating"! There is quite a difference between the two. It is a recommendation, made by your physician or a physician upon review of your medical records.

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Until last week, Kimberly Boyd, Green Mountain Medical Solutions, a medical marijuana dispensary in Sidney, was a legal business. But under the new medical marijuana act that took effect Friday, she was forced to burn what was left of her products.

When Senate Bill 423 became law Friday, the 2004 voter initiative to legalize medical marijuana was nullified, and caregivers can no longer provide marijuana for their card-holding patients. "It completely took away my job. I'm no longer a caregiver," Boyd, Richland County captain for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, said. The new law now requires her to reregister and fill out new paperwork for each patient. Boyd, a patient herself, can only grow for herself.

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A 40-year war in which the number of victims and the amount of money spent increase each year and where there is no end in sight can only be viewed as a failure.

Forty years ago in June, President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs."

Today, we live with the consequences of the failed policies that war has generated -- policies that have imprisoned millions, destroyed families and entire communities and have done nothing to stem drug addiction.

Drug offenses are the No. 1 crime for which Montanans are convicted, and marijuana is far and away the drug most often involved in those convictions.

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Montana high school students are using less tobacco, alcohol and other drugs than they were two years ago and much less than a decade ago, according to the latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

The 2011 survey results released this week by the Montana Office of Public Instruction show a marked decline in alcohol use by students from the previous survey:

The number of students reporting they had five or more drinks in a row within the previous month dropped from 30.1 percent to 25.2 percent.

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Fewer Montana high school students report using marijuana now than two years ago, despite worries that legalization of medical marijuana would boost pot smoking among teenagers.

In a survey of more than 9,000 Montana high school students, 39 percent said they'd tried marijuana, down 3 percent from two years ago.

Asked if they had used marijuana in the past month, 21 percent said yes. That was down 2 percent from two years ago and down 4 percent from 1999.

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Relying on a state law that took effect Friday, the Billings City Council voted Tuesday to close all medical marijuana stores within the city limits.

Last summer, the council imposed a moratorium on new medical marijuana businesses, but those already operating within the city limits were not shut down.

The latest emergency ordinance, approved by a two-thirds majority of the council, could end the practice that fired up community opposition to medical marijuana more than a year ago. Many, if not most, Billings folks don't want a medical marijuana shop within a block of their church or on the route that children walk to school. When Montana voters approved legalizing the use of marijuana upon physician recommendation for specific medical purposes, they didn't expect a pot shop on every street in the city.

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Montana high school students say they are drinking alcohol less frequently and using seat belts more when driving, but report being bullied more by fellow students, a survey released by the state Office of Public Instruction on Wednesday shows.

Half the students also said they had texted or sent e-mails while driving the previous 30 days, while 53 percent said they had talked on a cell phone while driving. It was the first time these questions have been asked in the survey.

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District Judge Stewart Stadler heard arguments Wednesday in a case pitting a medical marijuana advocacy group against Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan.

The Montana Medical Growers Association sued Corrigan March 23 on behalf of two men charged with felonies after a February traffic stop that yielded three pounds of marijuana.

Attorneys for the two men - Lief Erickson and Robin Ruiz - say they were acting within the confines of the Medical Marijuana Act as it existed at the time. They were transporting the marijuana to Great Falls, according to law enforcement. Ruiz is a registered caregiver and Erickson a patient.

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The Billings City Council adopted an emergency ordinance Tuesday night that bans the storefront sale of medical marijuana, effective on Wednesday.

The council has been dealing with various aspects of the regulation of medical marijuana for the past several years.

Ward 3 City Councilman Vince Ruegamer said he and his colleagues had already listened to more than 40 hours of public testimony on the contentious subject.

During a special session Tuesday night, the council heard another hour of testimony from 28 people, many of them familiar faces making familiar points.

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KALISPELL - A Flathead District Court judge on Wednesday heard arguments in a civil case that aims to clarify whether Montana's controversial Medical Marijuana Act allows caregiver-to-caregiver transactions.

A medical marijuana advocacy group filed the lawsuit against the Flathead County attorney in April, suing on behalf of two men who were charged with felony drug crimes. The charges relate to a traffic stop by law enforcement agents that revealed several pounds of pot in their possession.

The men - one a registered caregiver, the other a card holder - were driving the pot from Kalispell to Cascade County for delivery to another caregiver.

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The day after the Billings City Council adopted an emergency ordinance banning storefront sales of medical marijuana, city officials decided not to move too quickly to enforce the ban.

After meeting Wednesday afternoon with the city attorney, police chief and planning director, City Administrator Tina Volek said the city will send letters to storefront operators early next week, letting them know of the new ordinance and giving them 10 days to come into compliance.

"This isn't an adversarial situation simply because it's legal one day and illegal the next," Police Chief Rich St. John said earlier in the day.

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The lawsuit against SB 423 is an insult to the intelligence of thousands of Montanans!

This lawsuit goes against the separation of powers as stated in the Montana Constitution, our Montana legislators, Supreme Court, the FDA, federal law and the U.S. Congress.

A supermajority of the legislators voted for SB 423. In 2001, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the legality of medical marijuana. Federal law prohibits the possession, manufacture and distribution of marijuana. The FDA hasn't approved smoked marijuana for any condition or disease. On June 15, the chairmen of two congressional committees sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, stating that Congress placed marijuana in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substance Act and, as such, growing, distributing and possessing marijuana in any capacity, other than as part of a federally authorized research program, is a violation of federal law regardless of state laws permitting such activities.

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Black Market Economics

Cannabis advocates are warning that the millions of dollars generated by Montana's legal medical marijuana industry will flood the black market if a law that aims to sap the businesses' profits is allowed to take effect.

"It will fuel the drug war even more," says Montana Cannabis Industry Association President Ed Docter. "It's going to mean more marijuana coming over the borders. These people are not going to stop smoking marijuana just because (the Montana Legislature) passed a law."

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Billings City Council will have a special meeting Tuesday night to consider, for the third time, adoption of an emergency ordinance banning medical marijuana storefronts.

The special session will start at 5:30 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall at 220 N. 27th St., followed by the council's regular work session, which is usually reserved for discussion, not official action. The meeting is on Tuesday because of the Monday holiday.

Council members postponed action on the emergency ordinance when they met on June 13 and June 27, saying they wanted to wait until a Lewis and Clark County judge had ruled in a case that challenged a law passed earlier this year that would have severely restricted the use and distribution of medical marijuana.

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The judge's comparisons of marijuana with cancer drugs are ludicrous. Cancer drugs are not addictive, are not natural products and are the result of years of extensive and expensive research and testing. The cost of those drugs not only pays for the past research but supports ongoing research for medical treatment for other serious and life-altering diseases. The cost of marijuana is profit for people peddling an addictive natural substance of questionable, unproven and untested medical value.

Nicki Broch

Billings

[end]

A district court judge in Helena granted a preliminary injunction that blocks four key provisions in Montana's new medical marijuana law, which went into effect on July 1.

In issuing his 15-page ruling on June 30, Judge James Reynolds said he would not speak to whether marijuana has medical benefits because that matter had already been decided by Montana voters and the state legislature.

Reynolds did have something to say about the new law's restrictions on the commercial aspect of Montana's new marijuana industry.

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A neon sign announced that Green Mountain Medical Solutions in Billings was still in business Friday, but the owners aren't selling any marijuana for now.

When the business closed at 8 p.m. Thursday, owner Jude Gordon stopped selling medical marijuana ahead of a new state law that was set to take effect first thing Friday morning.

But a district court judge's ruling Thursday temporarily halted parts of the law and Gordon hopes to soon be selling again after submitting a new application.

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A Helena district judge on Thursday temporarily blocked from taking effect today some of what the medical marijuana industry deemed the most onerous parts of the more restrictive law passed by the 2011 Legislature.

However, District Judge James Reynolds refused to temporarily block implementation of the entire law as the Montana Cannabis Industry Association and other plaintiffs had sought.

Reynolds temporarily struck these major provisions of the law and in so doing, returned the law to what it had been before:

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Reactions were mixed Thursday to a district judge's ruling temporarily blocking parts of a 2011 medical marijuana law from taking effect today.

Those in the medical marijuana business were pleased that District Judge James Reynolds of Helena issued a temporary injunction blocking parts of the new law.

However, they warned that the decision leaves them in a no-win situation during the transition. Caregivers go out of existence at midnight Thursday and become providers under the new law.

They had been seeking to temporarily block implementation of the entire law.

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Caregivers Preparing to Close Shop Meet Judge'S Ruling With Cautious Optimism

At 5 p.m. Thursday, Chuck Campbell didn't know if his medical marijuana store, Montana Buds, would close forever or be open for business the following day.

And Mike Mason, the store's office manager, didn't know whether he'd have a job Friday.

In what could have been the store's last hours of business, Mason sat on an overturned bucket, scrubbing glass jars that had once been full of marijuana. The stores shelves were empty except for the last remaining bags of marijuana, and a front desk employee weighed out ounces of marijuana for patients, urging them to buy then because on Friday, it would likely be illegal.

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