Montana Medical Marijuana Providers Petition for Restriction Delay

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Advocates of the Montana medical marijuana program filed a petition asking the state’s Supreme Court to delay a February ruling that allows each provider to only sell to three registered users each.

The petition for rehearing, filed Mar. 11, requests a transition period through the end of the next legislative session, according to a WBNS article. That would give dispensaries a reprieve until April 2017.

The Feb. 25 ruling limits providers to only three registered users, and prohibits all advertising, both upheld in a 6-1 decision that struck down other parts of a 2011 state law. The restrictions mean that most large dispensaries would be shut down. The filing states “hundreds of caregivers will be immediately subject to criminal prosecution and over 10,000 patients will be scrambling to find alternative sources for marijuana,” according to a KPAX article.

The 2011 law is part of a legal rollback on the state’s medical marijuana program, after the number of registered patients spiked to 31,000, according to the Independent Record. The same year, the Montana legislature passed rules narrowing the program, but enforcement was delayed during a lawsuit against the bill. The restrictions would go into effect once the case is sent back to the District Court.

That leaves providers and users in confusion, said Bob Devine, president of the Montana Cannabis Information Association, to KPAX. “There truly needs to be a safe, responsible transition period. The program itself has kind of grown into what it is today. And to reverse that, you can’t do in a couple weeks. A lot of people will really suffer undue harm here.”

Those working in the program are also concerned that patients will be left without a legal provider without a working transition for the new limits. A Department of Public Health and Human Services statement says, “DPHHS is concerned for the thousands of patients with conditions like cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy who have been prescribed medical marijuana by a licensed physician and who could find themselves suddenly without an effective treatment as a result of the Supreme Court ruling,” according to the Billings Gazette

There are more than 13,000 registered cardholders in the medical marijuana program and 476 providers in the state.

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