Montana State

[MedicalNeed]

State Senator Jim Shockley,

Vote Him OUT!

Montana state senator declares war on medical marijuana law


C&P
Montana state senator declares war on medical marijuana law
By Greg Campbell l Published: Wednesday, May 26 2010 06:08

Time for a Reversal?

One step forward, two steps back?

That's a fair question for medical marijuana advocates to ask in light of news out of Montana this morning that a prominent state senator plans to undo the citizen initiative that has allowed people to us medical marijuana there since 2004.

State Senator Jim Shockley is upset that the law doesn't properly address distribution and has no controls for cultivation and dosage.
"Yeah, it's out of control -- and it needs control, if not extinction," he said Friday. "There's no control over distribution. There's no control over who's growing it. There's no control in dosage."

He added that laws governing medical marijuana are too complicated for the citizen initiative process. In other words, Montanans aren't qualified to govern themselves by passing their own laws.

The law allowing medical marijuana passed by 62 percent in 2004. Yet Shockley plans to introduce a bill in 2011 that would overturn the law.

Montana has had a rough go of it in recent weeks, with two dispensaries being firebombed and several localities banning or extending moratoria on new dispensary businesses.

For those championing expanded access to medical marijuana, it's the only blemish on the horizon so far -- in addition to the 14 states and Washington, D.C. that currently allow medical marijuana, another 14 are considering laws or have ballot initiatives to follow suit.

Montana state senator declares war on medical marijuana law | dscriber

 

[MedicalNeed]

State Senator Jim Shockley, alienates more voters.


A group trying to repeal Montana's medical marijuana law...received the

approved petition Friday evening, and can now collect signatures to

put the initiative on the November ballot.

"Safe Community Safe Kids" needs to collect more than 24-thousand

signatures by 5:00 PM next Friday. Attorney and State Senator Jim Shockley helped rewrite the purpose statement--which calls for repealing the Medical Marijuana initiative

passed in 2004. Shockley says he has already written a bill to repeal the law if the

initiative does not get on the ballot or fails.

He says if the law gets repealed the legislature will redo the medical

marijuana law to prevent what he calls "abuses."

Source: kbzk.com

 

[TorturedSoul]

I'm sure that there are abuses and that it would ultimately beneficial to true medical users to address them. I do not feel that repealing the law is the answer. Especially not the ONLY law (AfaIK) that is actually worded so that the state of Montana honors the medical cards of visiting non-residents from other medical states.

Does this guy believe that he's actually doing the right thing or is it just a political thing? If the former, there might be some (granted, probably rather infinitesimal) chance of educating him if it can be done with respect and in a way that is a true discussion on both parties' parts as opposed to lecturing/debating.

Otherwise... It'll be the medical users that are harmed by repealing the law - NOT the abusers.

 

[MedicalNeed]

Quote-"No more telemedicine, no more traveling," said Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, chairwoman of the committee.



Last I knew Telemedicine could prescribe ALL Pharmaceutical meds including those that are opiate based.




HELENA - Montana's traveling cannabis caravans, responsible for signing up thousands of people for medical marijuana cards in the last year, will be a thing of a the past if a group of lawmakers here gets its way.

A bipartisan panel spent most of Tuesday morning brainstorming changes to Montana's existing medical marijuana laws, taking particular aim at traveling clinics, which according to some, have exploited problems in Montana's law and made medical marijuana much more common.

Among its ideas: physicians who recommend marijuana for their patients must have an established practice in Montana, and they must have a face-to-face evaluation of a patient before issuing the person a medical marijuana recommendation.

"No more telemedicine, no more traveling," said Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, chairwoman of the committee.

They also recommended that doctors follow professional standards of care when dealing with a potential medical marijuana patient and they must look at a patient's medical records before making a recommendation for medical marijuana.

The panel also recommended changing the kinds of health conditions that would qualify someone for a medical marijuana card. Someone seeking a card for the broad topic of "chronic pain" would have to have two doctors' recommendations, including one by specialist, according to the panel.

About 13,000 of the 17,000 Montanans who have medical marijuana cards use the drug for "chronic pain," said Sen. Rick Laible, R-Darby, a nonvoting member of the committee.

The legislators also took up the cards themselves, saying people should have to have the card on them and have some form of photo identification when using medical marijuana.

The group, an offshoot of the Families, Children, Public Health and Human Services interim committee, which has been studying the issue, anticipates having the bill written by August. Its ideas are still a long way from becoming law. First, any bill would have to be endorsed by the whole committee and then presented to the entire Legislature for its approval in January.

***

The panel's ideas will not be the only medical marijuana bills for lawmakers to consider, Sands said. Lawmakers will likely have a range of ideas, she said, from repealing Montana's medical marijuana law entirely to legalizing marijuana for all purposes.

The committee is also considering banning the smoking of marijuana in public.

It is scheduled to meet again next month, when the committee will take up the growing and distribution of medical marijuana.

Sands and others on the panel said the traveling clinics are one of the main drivers behind public animus toward medical marijuana.

But Jim Gingery, executive director of the Montana Medical Growers Association, a trade group of medical marijuana growers, told lawmakers that many doctors in Montana are forbidden from recommending cannabis to their patients, even if they think it could help them. Doctors who work for any government-supported hospital and doctors affiliated with many of state's hospitals cannot prescribe cannabis either because their hospital forbids it or because their hospital could lose federal funding for promoting a substance that is considered an illicit drug at the federal level.

"That's the whole thing with the traveling clinics," he said. "That's where it got started."

Chris Arneson, public relations officer for Montana Caregivers Network, the Missoula organization that has hosted most of Montana's traveling clinics and teleconferences, said in an interview with the Missoulian State Bureau that the teleconferences are misunderstood. It's true that the network does employ a physician who will meet with patients over a digital video link, but all those patients must either fax or e-mail their medical records to the doctor, Arneson said, and most of those patients were referred to the network because their treating physician is not in a position to prescribe medical marijuana.

Such teleconferencing is merely a convenience for people who cannot drive to their Missoula offices.

"They're in too much pain," he said.


Website:Ban on traveling medical marijuana clinics among possible changes to laws

 

[MedicalNeed]

Legislature Candidates Criticized For Being Soft On Medical Marijuana

With public sentiment leaning toward medical marijuana reform, legislative candidates in both parties are under attack for allegedly being soft on the drug.

A poll released Friday suggested that 47 percent of Montanans might be ready to repeal medical marijuana use. More than 23,000 Montanans possessed cards for legal marijuana use two months ago, and the number continues to increase. Political foes would like voters to the think medical marijuana is "just groovy" with their adversaries, or simply can't be stopped.

"I certainly felt that our medical marijuana laws were very much in need of reform and serious rewrite," said Rep. Margie MacDonald, a Democrat campaigning in House District 54.

Earlier this week, fliers sent out to residents of south and southwest Billings depicted MacDonald as an advocate for allowing medical marijuana to be given to children. The fliers depicted MacDonald's own campaign literature taped to the window of a medical marijuana shop.

Similar cards were mailed out a week earlier against incumbent Wanda Grinde, a Democrat in the eastern part of the Heights.

MacDonald and Grinde were among 49 Democrats who attempted to dislodge a bill reforming state medical marijuana laws out of committee in 2009. The bill had won bipartisan support in the state Senate, but couldn't make it out of committee for a vote of the full House. The reform attempt subsequently died.

The Republican Legislative Campaign Committee, which mailed the fliers, colored MacDonald's vote as an endorsement for the changes the reform bill would have actually made.

Not so, MacDonald said Friday. Getting the bill out of committee would have enabled the House to install the reforms it wanted.

Earlier in the month, it was incumbent Roy Brown of Senate District 25 in north-central Billings who was being accused of not trying to reform current medical marijuana laws. The accusation came in a flier mailed by Brown's opponent, Democrat Kendall Van Dyk. But Brown is a member of the legislative interim committee tasked with reforming current medical marijuana law.

Craig Wilson, of the Montana State University Billings political science department, said medical marijuana reform is a hot campaign issue because repeal is gaining popularity with voters.

"In my mind, the original intent was good, but the way it was written," Wilson said of the current medical marijuana law. "Obviously to me, the sense voters have is, 'Hey this law is being abused.' "

Montana State University Billings poll results released Friday showed 47 percent of voters supporting repeal, while 37 percent opposed it, and 15.9 percent were undecided.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:billingsgazette.com
Author: TOM LUTEY
Contact: BillingsGazette.com - Contact Us
Copyright: 2010, The Billings Gazette, Billings, MT
Website:Legislature candidates criticized for being soft on medical marijuana

 

[Llama]

Our politicians in Montana forget one thing. the voters by an overwelming majority of 62% voted for the legalization of medical marijuana. With over 30,000 cardhoders and still counting, we are a formidable voting block. The politicians treat us as if we were stupid and could not understand the unintended consequences of legalizing MMJ. The fact that 25% of mmj cardholders are under 30 discounts the fact that that over 70% of cardholders are older than 30. People who do not smoke pot very seldom start because of legalization but people who do smoke will do so regardless of marijuana prohibition

 

[Toorop]

Our politicians in Montana forget one thing. the voters by an overwelming majority of 62% voted for the legalization of medical marijuana. With over 30,000 cardhoders and still counting, we are a formidable voting block. The politicians treat us as if we were stupid and could not understand the unintended consequences of legalizing MMJ. The fact that 25% of mmj cardholders are under 30 discounts the fact that that over 70% of cardholders are older than 30. People who do not smoke pot very seldom start because of legalization but people who do smoke will do so regardless of marijuana prohibition

Your last point is an excellent one. People will not stop using marijuan just because it is illegal. Why not just legalize it and ban smoking in public?

 

[MedicalNeed]

Medical Marijuana Debate Returns To Helena

HELENA- The 62nd session of the Montana Legislature will reconvene in the state's capitol Monday morning after a four day break and as the end of the session nears, time is ticking for lawmakers to reach a compromise over a bill to overhaul the state's medical marijuana industry.

Governor Brian Schweitzer vetoed plans to repeal the voter-approved law last Wednesday, and now legislators plan to start working out differences between the Senate and House on the overhaul measure, Senate Bill 423.

Lawmakers plan on tackling the position of medical marijuana caregivers. The Senate currently supports for-profit growing where caregivers can sell to patients similar to the current system. However, the House is pushing for the elimination of commercial caregivers, which would only allow for the patients themselves, or a blood relative, to grow for them.

If they can't come to a compromise on the bill, lawmakers face the possibility of Legislative inaction and business could bloom as usual. Many lawmakers from both parties say something needs to be done before the issue grows any larger.

"I am certain that on Monday morning, when we get together, we will be able to hammer out a good bill that gets the storefronts closed, continues to allow a small group of chronically ill people to access this product, but removes it in terms of access to young people," said Senator Jeff Essman, (R-Billings).

"There is quite a bit of difference between the two philosophies right now. I really will say I'm glad the governor vetoed the repeal. I do not think it's up to us as a legislature to override what the people themselves decided. I totally agree that something needs to be done. What happened was inexcusable and we need some very strict guidelines," added Sen. Gary Branae, (D-Billings).

Branae addedaddes that he hopes the new guidelines won't be so strict that it becomes impossible for people who can benefit from medical marijuana to obtain it.

There are almost 30,000 card carrying medical marijuana patients in the Treasure State.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: kpax.com
Copyright: 2000-2010, KPAX.com
Contact: KPAX.com
Website: Medical marijuana debate returns to Helena