Judge blocks Montana from banning sale of medical pot

Says state would deny health care to patients


Helena District Judge James Reynolds issued a preliminary injunction against portions of a restrictive overhaul of the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law, which was to take effect Friday.

One part of the law would have limited marijuana providers to distributing to a maximum of three patients and barred them from receiving anything of value for their product.

Montana hasn’t banned any other industries from receiving compensation for their goods and services, and the state has declared medical marijuana a legal product, Judge Reynolds said in his ruling. A profit ban would limit the number of willing marijuana providers and deny patients “this fundamental right of seeking their health care in a lawful manner.”

“The court is unaware of and has not been shown where any person in any other licensed and lawful industry in Montana — be he a barber, an accountant, a lawyer, or a doctor — who, providing a legal product or service, is denied the right to charge for that service or is limited in the number of people he or she can serve,” Judge Reynolds wrote.

Judge Reynolds also blocked provisions of the law banning advertising of medical marijuana, allowing unannounced searches of providers and requiring an investigation into any doctor who recommends marijuana for more than 25 patients in a year.

But he left other changes to the law in place, including stricter requirements of proof of chronic pain before a person can receive a registration card for that condition.

The ruling means medical marijuana providers for now will continue to operate under many of the rules approved by voters in 2004 until the full case can be heard. Critics say the voter-approved initiative is riddled with loopholes and has allowed the industry to spin out of control.

Montana has at least 30,000 medical marijuana users in a state with a population with just below 1 million. It’s one of the highest rates among the 15 states that allow medical marijuana use. Critics say the law is too permissive and has created a booming retail industry that peddles a product considered an illegal drug under federal law.

Read more http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/30/judge-blocks-montana-from-banning-sale-of-medical-/

Meanwhile Thursday, marijuana dispensers appeared to have lost a fight in Washington, with the Justice Department saying marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states could face prosecution for violating federal drug and money-laundering laws.

In a policy memo to federal prosecutors obtained Thursday by the Associated Press, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole said a 2009 memo discouraging the use of federal investigative resources in medical-marijuana cases legal under state laws did not apply to large-scale cultivators.

The new memo says that view has not changed, but “there has, however, been an increase in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes.”

[WebMaster’s Note: STATEMENTS ARE A Washington Times writer’s characterization OF THE MEMO – On the FLIP SIDE – The Deputy US Atty General CLARIFIED THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS POSITION FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES – The memo can easily be read as a COMMUNICATION TO THE FIELD TO BE SPECIFIC IN Who IS and WHO IS NOT a target for the FEDs war on drugs – and the heat is on ILLEGAL OPERATIONS and OPERATORS. Because of the nature of illegal operators; who tend to want to turn quick, large profits; large grows of thousands to tens of thousands of plants are often cultivated. Commercial sized operations could easily reach that size, operating for the benefit of a large group of members – for those “at war” with medical marijuana, it would seem the logical step to conclude larger operations are suspect, at first glance.  

At the heart of the matter is the heart of the intention of Prop 215 & SB 420, at least in California.  Larger cultivation operations are contrary to the envisioned scope of most state’s caregiver or patient “garden” sizes – enough to provide access to a handful of “like-minded” individuals with a dozen to 100 plants.]

The deputy attorney general said within the past 12 months, several jurisdictions have considered or enacted legislation to authorize multiple large-scale, privately operated industrial marijuana cultivation centers.

“Some of these planned facilities have revenue projections of millions of dollars based on the planned cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants,” he wrote, going on to state that the 2009 memorandum “was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law.”  [ed: And if they comply?]

 


2 CENTS FROM
TRUSTED FRIENDS |
MEDICAL MARIJUANA COLLECTIVE, Redding, CA:

Jess Brewer, the owner of Trusted Friends, a medical marijuana collective on Pine Street in Redding, said he doesn’t expect legitimate nonprofit suppliers of medical cannabis like him will see any changes.

Brewer said his office already has received a letter from Redding Police Chief Peter Hansen advising him of the changes, which he said he supports, since they target illicit growers who sell marijuana for profit and instead of for purely medicinal use.

“I think they’re going after illicit vendors, growers and clubs,” he said. “If you’re not doing it right, they’re going to pop you.”

 

Posted on Searchlight at http://www.redding.com/news/2011/jul/01/feds-more-strict-on-medical-pot/


Author

George

Founder & CEO of 420 College.

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