MTCIA: Lawsuit Expenditures, the Referendum, & Update

First, let’s answer some questions. We’ve been asked how much has been paid to the Goetz law firm. The answer: $90,000. Our outstanding bill is $60,674.72. We intend to send the Goetz law firm $5000 this week.

We apologize for any delays in answering. Several board members were on the road . Our treasurer is out of the country so we need to contact the accountant to validate our information. Each time we contact the accountant, it costs us money.

 But we appreciate your interest in assuring contributions are being used wisely. As many of you know, we are in the process of structuring our membership system. We hope by sometime this fall to be offering membership meetings. While we will continue to offer “open meetings” so people can learn and find out about the organization and state of cannabis access in Montana, we will also have member-only meetings.

The reason for this is efficiency. In membership meetings, we can deal with the nuts and bolts of generating and executing an organizational business plan. With open-meetings, which we encourage members to attend, we can provide a broader a picture. Membership forms will available at the www.mtcia.org soon.

It only makes sense to structure the MTCIA like other professional associations and create stability through membership.

Second, we’ve collected $11,000 from our current fundraising drive, somewhat less than half of the goal. Our greatest concern was that Patients for Reform Not Repeal (P4RNR) would lose their contract with M+R Strategic Services. Their services are critical to the execution of the petition gathering process, especially as done with volunteers. There has been a pledge made to make sure they are paid through the gathering of 5%. While this pledge helps stabilize the effort, it only covers the services of M+R and not other expenses incurred by P4RNR. In addition, achieving the 15% mark will require a more than doubling of efforts (and outcomes) in the weeks to come and costs would rise considerably to reach that goal. 

Thank you to all who contributed.

If you haven’t contributed yet, please help. Hit the donate button at the top right hand corner to contribute to supporting the referendum, the lawsuit, and the MTCIA.

 You can also contribute to the referendum at P4RNR here.