The impending Supreme Court decision and what it means for you.

The Montana Supreme Court could rule on SB423 at any time. They can rule to permanently enact all, some, or none of the disputed sections.

These sections include:

1. A ban on providers accepting payments for their products or services. If enacted, this would would require any remaining provider to give their product away for free.
2. A three patient limit per provider, with no allowance for cohabitation, thus preventing co-ops and multi-provider businesses. If enacted this would prohibit any grow larger than 12 flowering plants in any location, as well as limiting each provider to only three patients.
3. Doctors would be limited to prescribe for 25 patients only, with severe financial consequences for doctors regularly prescribing marijuana. If enacted this would mean more than 3/4 of the current patients would be unable to find a doctor to prescribe their medicine.
4. A ban on all advertising.  Prohibits all forms of advertising, including internet advertising.

This leaves a variety of possible industry outcomes, none of which are tenable from any reasonable business perspective.

Even if the supreme court rules in “our favor”, enjoining all 4 provisions, we will be left with a law that:

1. Allows for unannounced , warrant-less searches by law-enforcement. Until now, the open judicial action has prevented most law-enforcement agencies from acting on this option. However, once the courts finish our case, these searches becomes a more likely problem for many providers.
2. Provides no framework for having employees, health inspections, or normal business practices.
3. Fails to adequately protect patients by not mandating testing and health standards.
4. Has unrealistic plant to product ratios that could keep many providers from being in legal compliance.
5. Fails to allow people with PTSD access to medical cannabis, effectively keeping thousands of Montana veterans from receiving the help they need.

 

Our proposed initiative addresses all of the above issues in a fair and practical way; by giving the choice back to the people!

 

We can not gamble with a “wait and see” approach in our current law. We must unite as an industry and take action! We can not afford to sit idly by while Montana becomes the first state to move backwards on Marijuana reform. Our only hope to have an industry in the future is to invest in a new ballot initiative for 2016! However, in order to obtain the signatures required, and in the time period allowed, the MTCIA is seeking to obtain the services of M+R Research, a professional consulting and research firm that specializes in ballot initiatives and signature gathering.

We can do it! But we can’t do it without you!

Please, join us in making Montana a safe place for patients and their providers; become a part of the MTCIA, and make a difference!