MTCIA Endorses Gary Marbut’s Candidacy for HD 99

NEWS RELEASE

Montana Cannabis Industry Association Endorses Gary Marbut for HD 99

MISSOULA – The Montana Cannabis Industry Association (MTCIA) has endorsed Gary Marbut in his bid for the Montana Legislature in House District 99. The MTCIA is the statewide group which advocates for medical marijuana providers.

Chris Lindsey, President MTCIA commented, “The MTCIA is pleased to endorse Gary Marbut for HD 99, one of only two candidates we have endorsed for the Legislature this election cycle. We endorsed Gary because his past activism is so congruent with issues important to us. Voters need Gary’s experience and activism in the Legislature.”

Lindsey continued, “It’s important to the MTCIA that political figures show courage in real leadership, and are willing to stand up for what the citizens believe is right. Such leadership always involves political risk. That’s why it takes courage. Gary Marbut is standing up on this issue, and that is why we support him.”

Marbut, thought by some to be a “maverick” Republican, has a long history of advocating for civil liberties and individual rights, often bucking the winds of establishment power to do so. Marbut’s concerns include the great loss of civil liberties under the “war on drugs.”

“I have long believed that most people are good and decent people who will do the right thing if left to their own devices,” Marbut said. “In this attitude, I have often found myself at loggerheads with pro-establishment people who think citizens must be controlled by a strong central authority, or, if uncontrolled, citizens will go wrong. I simply trust people to be decent citizens more than many in the political establishment.”

“I appreciate the endorsement of the MTCIA,” Marbut concluded. “In part, it honors my nationally-recognized, Montana-based effort to roll back federal commerce clause power. That effort caused the Public Broadcasting System to come to Montana to interview me for its upcoming documentary series on the U.S. Constitution, and landed me on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.”

The MTCIA has been in the news lately with its attempt to curtail a 2011 legislative emasculation of a 2004 voter-passed initiative called I-148 allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. That attempt includes both litigation in state courts and yet another direct democracy effort, IR-124, to undo the 2011 legislative curtailment of the original initiative passed by Montana voters.

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Information: Chris Lindsey – 214-0356
Gary Marbut – 549-1252
www.ElectMarbut.com