Despite lawmakers best efforts to thwart the clear desires of their constituents, Montana medical marijuana dispensaries are set to reopen thanks to intervention from a judge.
Montana was one of four states where voters approved medical marijuana initiatives on Election Day this year, though the Big Sky States was differentit didnt create a medical-marijuana program, as voters had already done that in 2004.
What I-182 did was merely restore the states medical cannabis program to voters intent after the state Legislature gutted it in 2011.
That year, lawmakers imposed rules so strictincluding limiting the number of patients per caregiver to three, making dispensaries economically impossible to operatethat left cannabis nearly impossible to access.
A lengthy court battle meant that the rules didnt take effect until Aug. 31 of this year, but that still meant the closure of medical-marijuana dispensaries across the state and no access to cannabis for thousands of patients, according to the Missoulian.
The new rules winnowed the number of registered patients in the state to 7,558down from more than 30,000and of them, 6,557 were without a registered caregiver to grow or provide them marijuana.
I-182 struck down the three-patient limit and restored the dispensary model as workable. Confident of a reprieve on Election Day, hopeful dispensaries hung signs saying See you in November.
After the win, they then found themselves victims of a clerical error. Last-minute changes to the ballot initiatives language meant that the law as written would not take effect until July 1 of next year.
It took the courts to inject some sanity into the situation. Judge James Reynolds found the clerical error to be just that, and ordered dispensaries to be able to reopen immediately, as was I-182s intent.
The plight of sick patients was key for Reynolds, according to the Missoulian.
The folks that are maybe the most in need are the least able to provide, to grow their own, Reynolds said, according to the newspaper. I think speed is more important than ...
