Medical Marijuana In Montana Saved By Helena Judge, For Now

In 2004, 64% percent of Montana voters voted for Medical Marijuana on the ballots. In the years that followed, suppliers popped up all around Montana as they saw the business grow from 180 customers in 2005 to 30,000 customers in 2011. Apparently this began to scare the general public and the legislators quickly took action.

Federal raids and shutdowns of Medical Marijuana Caregivers sent a wave of anxiety through the medical Marijuana community. Then what followed was even more shocking. The voter approved law was caught dead in the cross hairs of a new conservative backed bill that would all but outlaw the entire Medical Marijuana industry in Montana. A bill that would aim to virtually shut down the voter approved initiative of 2004. Was this fresh booming industry about to die in its early beginnings without voter approval?

This past Friday, judge Jim Reynolds blocked the main parts of the new bill that were aiming to cripple the Medical Marijuana suppliers. One of the key points of the bill was to limit the number of patients per caregiver to three. To this part of the bill, Judge Reynolds wrote,

"The court is unaware of and has not been shown where any person in any other licensed and lawful industry in Montana -- be he a barber, an accountant, a lawyer or a doctor -- who, providing a legal product or service, is denied the right to charge for that service or is limited in the number of people he or she can serve."

Judge Reynolds also shut down other parts of the bill and allowed others and will provide a final ruling later this year. Follow this link for more info on Montana Medical Marijuana.