Monday, March 1, 2010

POT HEADS HIGH ON HAVRE

Medical Marijuana providers / growers could be coming to Havre. The Havre City Council Development and Planning Committee will meet tomorrow, March 3 at 5:15 pm in the City Council Chamber to discuss zoning to allow medical marijuana growers in the city limits. In November 2004, Montana voters passed Initiative 148 which made the use of medical marijuana legal.
How does a person qualify to legally smoke pot?

o In Montana, patients and caregivers must register with the Quality Assurance Division of the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Department of Public Health & Human Services: Montana Medical Marijuana Program21 To register, the patient or caregiver must: \
2. Complete the application form. You must have a valid Montana driver's license or state identification card.Department of Public Health & Human Services: New Application Form 22

3. Provide written certification from a doctor that the patient is a qualifying patient.Department of Public Health & Human Services: Frequently Asked Questions

4. Send the application, written certification and a $50 application fee to Department of Public Health and Human Services / Quality Assurance Division; Licensure Bureau; PO Box 202953; Helena, MT 59620-2953.Department of Public Health & Human Services: http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/medicalmarijuana/ 
http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/medicalmarijuana/frequentlyaskedquestions1.pdf
CORRECTION  for the Corrector from someone from the State of Montana medical marijuna registry.  Thankyou for pointing this out  To the Editor, I administer the state medical marijuana registry. The following paragraph (4) excerpted from your marijuana article is incorrect. The registration fee is $25 for a new patient and $10 for a renewal. I can only assume you have an old or a broken link. Here is the correct link to the state website for the FAQs.
http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/medicalmarijuana/frequentlyaskedquestions.shtml 
In Billings on Sunday 800 Montana's were expected to register for medical marijuana cards at a workshop sponsored by The Montana Care Givers Network. http://www.montanacaregivers.net/

Watch the report of this weekend’s activities on KULR8 in Billings

If you have an opinion be sure and show up at City Hall at 5:15 on Tuesday

20 comments:

  1. This ought to be good. I have heard that there are already 20 something of these growers in Hill County and now they want to move into Havre also. Thye get to have 6 plants for every "patient" or cardholder they have. Since they will give a patient card to nearly anyone that says they have a pain these guys could have bigger greenhouses then Milams

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  2. Smoking cannabis actually is beneficial to some people suffering from pain but I wonder if the way it is set up in Montana will let these little business ventures mushroom into something that is out of control. Plus the ones I know of are basically thumbing their noses at the law enforcement even though we know for a fact that at least one of them sells to anyone he knows, not just the medical patient card holders. I just see this as the first step towards widespread legalization of marijuana

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  3. Yes it is good. These caregivers are providing a service to responsible tax paying citizens for conditions outlined by the law. They have to keep records and pay TAXES just like any other business. In these tough economic times there is no more room for ignorance on a subject clouded throughout our history by propaganda and racism.Inform yourself on the facts from credible sources BEFORE you form an opinion. New small businesses opening in town is a good thing. Also anyone not following the law will be prosecuted just like anyone else abusing prescription drugs.

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  4. I have a question support farmers. I understand that the local police are not even informed as to who these growers or users are because they are regulated by the department of health. How will we ever know if they are following the law? How will we know if they are selling illegally? Do you know what guidelines they have to follow? And I am just assuming here, but are they taxed a big tax like is now put on alcohol and tobacco or just a regular income tax? If not, why not?
    I confess I do not know the facts other then the local gossip from the pro and con people

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  5. It appears to me to be yet another unsupervised government mess. Do they even tax these guys? I would think it would be a mostly cash on the barrel head business

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  6. There should be history understood here. When prohibition ended, so did the violence.
    Criminal drug enterprises cannot compete with legit businesses in this way. The legalization of medical marijuana basically shut down the illegal growing operations of northern California.
    The criminals literally went bankrupt.
    The biggest problem with the anti medical marijuana people is that they believe the propaganda that is sold via the AA faith and its profitable arm, the recovery industry, as medical fact.
    The recovery industry in the US (which is basically forced participation in the AA faith and their religious rituals) is an absolute disaster. The garbage they preach as medical fact is neither medical nor fact. It is based on the drug induced visions of god a con man had in the 1930's, coincidently at the end of prohibition.
    People in the US are incarcerated, have lost employment, have lost custody of children, and have been denied organ transplants for failing to participate and become a true believer in this religious cult.
    Anyone who has any questions about the so called "credibilty" or effectiveness of this mess should really spend some time at the orange papers (www.orange-papers.org)

    These religious zealots are again attempting to change public policy to their religious expectations.

    I would just add that if a person is diagnosed with some form of disease, who are these people, in any way, to tell a person not to use a substance that the victim feels is beneficial.

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  7. DeConstructor are you high? Pardon the pun here, but come on.

    What evidence do you have to show that illegal marijuana has declined in California? Actually by DEA accounts the illegal import has increased from Mexico the main source. California is having once heck of a time defending their legal medical marijuana industry from being taken over by the illegal trade for legitimacy and cover. According to California's own 2008 crime statistics marijuana arrests have increased 5% from 2007 to 2008 and 22.4% from 2003-2005. Check it out: http://ag.ca.gov/cjsc/publications/candd/cd08/preface.pdf

    As far as the general consensus on marijuana being based on propaganda, its a little like global warming. You can find 10 doctors who will defend marijuana as some miracle herb and you can find 10 more that say it is a dangerous substance which should be controlled. So the science does not say one way or the other consistently.

    The National Institutes of Health in its Research Report series on Drug Abuse said marijuana smoke contains 50-70% more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke! I can hear the hippies already--not true, not true! Look it up!

    But I also believe in personal responsiblity so I say open it up compeletely and tax the hell out of it. If you want to smoke it pay for it! But stop trying to convince us all about the wonder weed! Your stats are flawed and that misguides your logic.

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  8. RR59501-

    Here is someones personal account of EXACTLY how legal pot puts drug dealers out of business.

    http://ganjarama.com/news/how-legal-pot-putting-dealers-under

    I am not calling it a "wonder weed" I do not use it, however, if someone has a chronic health problem I would certainly defend their RIGHT to use it.

    Certainly it should be taxed.

    Smart government would generate money from this, instead of housing, feeding, clothing, medicating, and educating persons in prison that could be productive parents and taxpayers.

    Government has NO right to tell others what to do based on faulty science and the very loud recovery industry, who (according to Alcoholics Anonymous OWN DATA) has a 95% percent failure rate and kills 5 people for every one they allegedly help (Brandsma study, University of Maryland)

    These are not statistics that are quoted such as in the global warming debate. These are very real and direct problems that are created by people that profit, financially and evangelically, for promoting the disease model of addiction, a highly conroversial subject.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EERtvHp2m4k

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  9. DeConstructor, I have no objection to your views on AA as I gather you must have some personal experience with this organization either with a loved one or a close friend something that didn't work out well and maybe not; however, I do know that some people believe it works and as someone who does not have a substance abuse but knows people very closely who do I cannot pretend to know how it feels but I do sympathize with their pain. Desparation with make you do just about anything and for some AA helps, others not a bit.

    I agree that the medical marijuana community feels that they are having an impact on illegal marijuana usage, they always talk about how teen usage is dropping. But in reality it is not. And adult usage isn't declining either. I know this to be fact as I know someone who is involved in law enforcement specifically drug trafficking in California and he tells me that this made no impact on the illegal trade, none, zip, zilch. The numbers on Mexican drug influence on California is astromical and its all drugs, not just marijuana but heroin, cocaine and meth as well.

    One important distinction that needs to be made is that legal users do not impact this economic function, because they are less than 10% of the total market by expert estimations. The point is that the smallfry operators are gone because they cannot compete with the legitimate operations or the cartels. However the cartel operators know this and are expanding by taking in the illegal element and then masquerade as a legitimate dispensary. Why? Law enforcement says that with all the confusion about who's legal and who isn't and the State vs. Federal views on this shift from Congress to Congress and Administration to Administration that they can operate under the radar. One change that has occured that you point out is the grow operations have declined because it is cheaper to just import it from Mexico.

    It's a tough subject. Legalization is probably the only way we could ever legitimately regulate it and tax it. I agree.

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  10. RR 59501
    I must strongly disagree with you on one point you make--


    "One important distinction that needs to be made is that legal users do not impact this economic function, because they are less than 10% of the total market by expert estimations"

    I would certainly say it affects the overall economic function because, once again, these people would not be "criminals" and "combatees" in a drug war the US government is fighting against their OWN citizens.

    Once again, these people would not be incarcerated and be housed,fed, clothed, medicated, and educated at taxpayer expense. In addition, if these persons were not incarcerated, they could be productive taxpayers, and their kids would not be raised by the state and the state taxpayers.

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  11. DeConstructor, Maybe so with respect to marijuana, but the other drugs are far too dangerous to not be controlled. Like it or not and the drug war is incredibly costly and more than likely ineffective (overall), but what else do we do? Ever seen the effects of heroin on a teenager or that of meth on young mother? I agree I would rather not criminalize this, but we cannot allow folks to go on complete and total drug usage, our society would completely break down.

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  12. I guess I am failing to see your point...These drugs "are far too dangerous not to be controlled"
    Well, they are not controlled. The best example of that is the explosion in the unauthorized use of oxycontin or oxycodone. Thats not a California or big city thing, that is here.

    This entire debate should be compared to gun control. I like most Montanans, own several firearms, and I love them all dearly.

    Are they dangerous? Of course, their function is to kill things.

    However, in Montana, we do not have the severity of gun crimes or gun accidents as in other areas. Why? because most people are properly trained in both the deadliness, and the safety precautions that must be adhered to around firearms.

    That is not the case with regard to drugs and alcohol. People are constantly fed inaccurate information as medical fact.

    In a nutshell, there would not be an drug problem, an alcohol problem, or an addiction problem in the US if it were not for the misiformation and disinformation that is promoted, marketed, and proslytized by the AA faith and the recovery industry.

    That is based on the fact that in other countries, people are not sold the disease model of addiction. (For example, there are more alcoholics in the city of Los Angelos than the continent of Europe)

    People would actually begin to understand that addiction is NOT a disease, it is a behavior, and they must be responsible for their own actions, and stop using excuses for poor behavior.

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  13. Ok so the law passed- the point is the stuff should be distributed thru a pharmacy not someone's house. The state should take a cut (which I believe the grower is getting all the money and his only cost is growing the stuff which I know is significant) IF EVERY BIT is grown and distributed through a pharmacy it could have a tax stamp with expiration? Right now it is the wild wild west in your back yard...how much is grown and officially sold and how much is slipped out the back ?

    Maybe I could make my own drugs and sell that at my house oh that would be a crack house. where's that care giver card for meth? voters?

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  14. Well DeConstructor I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this because I emphatically disagree with you. I know too many people who have died using illegal narcotics like meth and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was controlled and I agree with you on that term it is used loosely in its meaning of federal control (legal or illegal).

    I do not feel nor can you convince me that folks in Montana or Europe can handle heroin or cocaine or meth differently than in other countries or other areas of the US because of some concept taught about addiction. These drugs are not taken by the masses because they are illegal and people love the thrill, they take them to get high. They get addicted to them and their lives change because it impairs their judgement.

    The end result is usually recovery, prison or death. Neither of which is a good end for most. Are their flaws in the disease concept? Absolutely. As I said before I have two loved ones whom I am very close with who have been through addiction therapy. One handles it through AA and has been sober now for 11 years. The other tried AA and couldn't make that work. He needed medically treated chemical dependency and has been sober for over 25 years. One had a hard drug (cocaine) and alcohol addiction the other was strictly alcohol.

    Are winning the drug war? No, but as I said before what else do you do? We cannot allow folks especially teens to experiement with hardcore drugs legally it would blow up beyond proportion. Then you say well that just drives them underground and they hide it...yes, but legalization of these drugs will solve nothing and there is no empirical evidence to back up your claim that drug behavior is similar to firearms ownership.

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  15. BeerOgre, the reason it is not dispensed in a pharmacy is because legally it cannot be. Why? Because pharamcists are registered dispensaries with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and as such would violate Federal Law for dispensing a class 1 illegal narcotic such as marijuana. Remember the voters approved its use as medicine in Montana, its never been legalized on the Federal level.

    But I do agree with you it should be opened up and I also agree with your characterization albeit sarcastiacally with the comparison with meth!!

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  16. You guys. Lets get back on point here. We are talking about cannabis not meth or cocain or whatever else.Also we are talking about Montana which has a different law than California or Texas which doesnt have one at all pertaining to medical marijuana which means that anyone who wants to use it even medically has to go through the black market. Lets also remember that these arrests in California are mostly black market people who are not caregivers or patients. These people still exsit because in most of the country "marijuana" is still prohibited. This means that it is still a valuable black market commodity. The issue is not black market drugs it is the regulation of a legal drug (62% of Montana voters)prescribed by a doctor and people openly registered with the state wanting to start a legitimate buisness. If we dont want them near schools or whatever fine but downtown why not? Our downtown could use a little revitalization.

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  17. Please note the following CORRECTION for the Corrector from someone from the State of Montana medical marijuna registry. Thankyou for pointing this out

    To the Editor, I administer the state medical marijuana registry.

    The following paragraph (4) excerpted from your marijuana article is incorrect. The registration fee is $25 for a new patient and $10 for a renewal. I can only assume you have an old or a broken link. Here is the correct link to the state website for the FAQs.

    http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/medicalmarijuana/frequentlyaskedquestions.shtml

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  18. I believe in State's rights as written in the constitution. many do not believe this.

    If you say that it is illegal for a pharmacist to dispense medically prescribed Marijuana becuase of their contract with the DEA.... the FBI and DEA should be breaking down the doors of the 'local care givers'aka pot growers doors. The feds can prosecute them under the DEA statutes that supercede the states laws.

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  19. True BeerOgre, but the Obama Administration has ordered the Justice Department to ignore prosecution of violators of medical marijuana grow ops in recognition of States Rights. I know I almost choked too when I heard that, really? But it is true, they are focused on significant trafficking, not small growers.

    I agree with you that the States rights should supercede, but the Feds don't agree except on this issue.

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  20. Things that make you go mmmmmmm. First ordinances not being enforced, now drug laws......Are we all more liberterians or anarchists? Maybe we can find some other laws we can conveniently ignore.

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