Montana Senate to vote on medical marijuana overhaul

Montana Senate to vote on medical marijuana overhaul

STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press

HELENA — Senators were working up against a deadline Tuesday on the latest measure to tighten Montana's medical marijuana laws, potentially setting up a clash with House Republican leaders who favor total repeal of the state's marijuana laws.

Lawmakers are rushing to beat a procedural deadline, before extra votes would be required to pass the bill to the House.

Senate Bill 423, carried by Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann of Billings, would dramatically reduce the availability of the drug to Montanans, overturning the 2004 voter-approved law and toughening regulations for doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients. Essmann says his measure could reduce legal marijuana users from more than 28,000 to less than 2,000.

Critics have complained that law enforcement cannot adequately police the marijuana industry and the trade of the drug is endangering public safety. Supporters of medical marijuana say chronic pain sufferers need access to the drug.

To appeal to skeptics, the measure is being billed as law enforcement friendly. It attempts to do away with pot shops, remove the profitability from the marijuana trade and require police notification before cannabis is transferred from a grower to a patient.

So far, the bill's critics in the House have said they are not impressed. Republican House leaders have been staunch advocates of doing away with legal marijuana in the state, sponsoring and supporting a number of measures to repeal the law. Republican House Speaker Mike Milburn of Cascade has said the Senate bill is a long way from being a workable measure that he would support.

Both Republican Senate President Jim Peterson of Buffalo and Milburn have said the measure will likely pass to the House where it will be amended and then enter a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate.

The overhaul measure is the product of weeks of last-minute work by a Senate subcommittee to patch together the regulation measures from a number of other overhaul measures before the Legislature.

HELENA — Senators were working up against a deadline Tuesday on the latest measure to tighten Montana's medical marijuana laws, potentially setting up a clash with House Republican leaders who favor total repeal of the state's marijuana laws.

Lawmakers are rushing to beat a procedural deadline, before extra votes would be required to pass the bill to the House.

Senate Bill 423, carried by Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann of Billings, would dramatically reduce the availability of the drug to Montanans, overturning the 2004 voter-approved law and toughening regulations for doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients. Essmann says his measure could reduce legal marijuana users from more than 28,000 to less than 2,000.

Critics have complained that law enforcement cannot adequately police the marijuana industry and the trade of the drug is endangering public safety. Supporters of medical marijuana say chronic pain sufferers need access to the drug.

To appeal to skeptics, the measure is being billed as law enforcement friendly. It attempts to do away with pot shops, remove the profitability from the marijuana trade and require police notification before cannabis is transferred from a grower to a patient.

So far, the bill's critics in the House have said they are not impressed. Republican House leaders have been staunch advocates of doing away with legal marijuana in the state, sponsoring and supporting a number of measures to repeal the law. Republican House Speaker Mike Milburn of Cascade has said the Senate bill is a long way from being a workable measure that he would support.

Both Republican Senate President Jim Peterson of Buffalo and Milburn have said the measure will likely pass to the House where it will be amended and then enter a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate.

The overhaul measure is the product of weeks of last-minute work by a Senate subcommittee to patch together the regulation measures from a number of other overhaul measures before the Legislature.