Sponsored by
VGoodiez 420EDC
  • Welcome to VaporAsylum! Please take a moment to read our RULES and introduce yourself here.
  • Need help navigating the forum? Find out how to use our features here.
  • Did you know we have lots of smilies for you to use?

Law Montana

momofthegoons said:

MONTANA PASSES LANDMARK BILL ADVANCING HEMP AS ANIMAL FEED​


Governor Greg Gianforte signs HB 396, a bill authorizing hemp food ingredients as commercial animal feed. This bill is a major step forward for the developing U.S. hemp grain industry, opening additional markets for farmers and again establishing Montana as a key leader in production and opportunities for industrial hemp grain. Features of this bill include:

● Clarifying hemp seed food ingredients and substances derived from hemp are included in the definition of commercial feed.

● Providing authority for hemp for use as commercial feed for pets, specialty pets, and horses.

● For other livestock, effectiveness contingent upon FDA-CVM (Food and Drug Administration- Center for Veterinary Medicine) approval of hemp as an approved additive or defined ingredient in animal food or medicated feed for livestock.

This bill was championed by IND HEMP, representing 30+ family farms raising hemp grain in Montana, in coordination with hemp lobby firm Agricultural Hemp Solutions, LLC (AgHS). This bill was passed nearly unanimously by the Montana Legislature and had active support from the Montana Farm Bureau, Montana Farmers Union, Montana Stockgrowers Association, and the Montana Grain Growers Association.

AgHS Chief Legislative Strategist Courtney N. Moran, LL.M. commends the team’s achievement: “HB 396 is a positive and necessary step forward in recognizing hemp as an agricultural crop. Opening the door for hemp as a commercial feed ingredient creates new markets for farmers. I’m proud to work with IND HEMP in advancing industrial hemp grain and fiber policy and infrastructure development.”

Feeding hemp to animals is not currently illegal in the USA, but it is also not specifically legal. For livestock feed, each state Department of Agriculture has the regulatory authority over what can be considered approved feed in their state. Many states, such as California and Montana regulate horses as livestock, and therefore often choose to follow the regulatory guidance of AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) which is a governing body for animal feed use. The concern with feeding hemp to animals is that the government needs to prove beyond a doubt that no THC will accumulate in meat, eggs or milk of animals entering the food supply- even though all harvested hemp is below .3% THC as regulated and hemp seed food products contain less than 10ppm THC, as has been evaluated and approved for human food.

IND HEMP is actively involved in the work being done nationally by the Hemp Feed Coalition, supporting financially as well as IND HEMP founder Ken Elliott serving as President of HFC and COO Morgan Elliott serves on multiple technical committees working to establish the technical basis for ingredient definitions, testing protocols, etc for creating the body of work necessary for each ingredient definition. Please help us in supporting this necessary work by joining the Hemp Feed Coalition !

Hemp is the most digestible and complete plant protein that you can feed to animals and has been fed to all kinds of animals for 1000’s of years and long before prohibition in America. In fact, feeding hemp seed ingredients to horses and pets has been legal and specifically approved in Canada, UK, Australia and other places around the world for years. Holistic vets have used hemp seed oil as a supplement with horses to help support a variety of conditions from inflammation to gut and skin conditions. These products grown by Canadian hemp farmers have been sold into states like Montana for many years. This step by the Montana legislature acknowledges the benefits of feeding hemp and creates a level playing field and new opportunities for Montana farmers and companies such as IND HEMP to participate in this marketplace.

IND HEMP Founder Ken Elliott celebrated the passage: “Once again, Montana provides the right kind of leadership to get business done in these uncertain times. Leadership that is bipartisan and helps our farmers and our rural communities. In Montana, we look forward to building a nationally recognized hemp program founded on grain and fiber production and working with those farmers and businesses who work hard to make things happen.”

In addition to wide support from Montana agricultural trade groups, IND HEMP was proud of local teens Brentlee and Jacynta Bomgardner from Loma, MT who are active in the local 4-H club and within the local ag community in Chouteau County and testified at both the House and Senate hearings in support of feeding hemp to their animals.

Chief Sponsor and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Josh Kassmier, HD 27, guided the victory: “The signing of HB 396 is a great step in promoting the hemp industry in Montana. Hemp provides an additional rotation crop for farmers and value-added opportunities for our rural communities. I look forward to seeing the hemp industry grow in Montana.”

Senate co-sponsor Tom Jacobson, SD11, led efforts on the Senate floor: “Montana’s agricultural future depends on the growth and diversification of hemp. Businesses such as IND HEMP are developing a completely new industry in our state and we as a legislature need to do whatever we can to reduce barriers and provide opportunities for growth. I applaud the Elliott family and their dedication to the development of the burgeoning hemp industry. I am thankful for the opportunity to further legislation that helps pave the way for continued success.

IND HEMP is a family-owned mission-driven industrial hemp oilseed and fiber processing and supply company in Fort Benton, Montana working to create opportunities for farmers and rural communities.
Click to expand...
Definitely something that hurts cannabis.
Cannabis pollen is very small,airborne and travels on the wind for miles.
Nearly impossible to filter it out which results in seeded flower........seeds are viable and shit.
Sound's great on the surface but has ramifications that most people are unaware of.
So...........yay progress I reckon.
 

​

Montana Bill To Implement Marijuana Legalization Heads To Governor’s Desk​

The cannabis legislation was revived after an initial defeat on the House floor on Monday.
By Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Daily Montanan

After a whirlwind 24 hours that saw the fate of the bill change dramatically on more than one occasion, the Legislature has passed House Bill 701, landmark legislation that implements the recreational marijuana program that voters approved last year.

The state House on Tuesday morning passed the bill as amended by the Senate on third reading 67-32, sending it to the governor’s desk. Retail sales of recreational marijuana are slated to begin in January of next year.

The bill, one of several visions this session for implementation of I-190, the initiative that created the recreational pot market in Montana, has traveled a bumpy road to the finish line. Since its introduction around a month ago (at roughly 160 pages long), the plan has faced dozens of amendments in both chambers and more than one vote to stop it in its tracks.

“Everything in the Legislature is a constant conversation, and we needed to make the point really clear: Given our timelines, sending 701 to a conference committee, even though well-intentioned, is for all intents and purposes is, if not killing it outright, getting as close as you can to killing it without actually killing it,” Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, the bill’s sponsor, told reporters Tuesday. “So, I think the point needed to be clear that folks had a choice in front of them.”

On Monday, a contingent of House Republicans joined together to vote down the version of the bill that the Senate produced following extensive negotiations in that upper chamber. That amended language had wide-reaching effects on the program and the allocation of marijuana tax revenues—additional funds would go to conservation easements, reminiscent of the language in I-190; there’d be a special drug court for expungement cases, home grow would be allowed and more. The bill as written currently would also finance the HEART Fund, a substance abuse prevention program proposed by Gov. Greg Gianforte (R).

But House Republicans felt the Senate’s work didn’t reflect the changes they wanted to see—namely, lowering the 20 percent tax on recreational pot sales, eliminating the option for a local option excise tax, banning home grow and so on—and voted down the bill, intending to send it to a conference committee where the two chambers could reconcile their differences.

However, a conference committee risked running up against the intended end of the session later this week, and Hopkins said he felt like he didn’t adequately explain the stakes to his colleagues. He made a successful motion to reconsider the vote, and on Tuesday, many of the same lawmakers who voted not to concur with the Senate’s work voted to do the opposite. After lawmakers had a lengthy discussion on the tax rates in the bill, they suspended House rules in order to fast-track passage of a variety of outstanding policy priorities and passed HB701.

Some were still opposed. Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, repeated his argument that the state would be committing millions in projected revenues from the recreational marijuana program without knowing exactly how much money they’d have to spend. What could possibly drive medical marijuana cardholders—who would pay just a 4 percent tax under the bill—to pay for recreational pot at a 20 percent rate, he asked.

“I don’t think there’s any way we’re going to see the revenue materialize in 2023 that’s been forecast,” he said. “We are creating new spending that is completely unrelated to the tax that is being proposed.”

Mercer also posited that the allowance of a local-option excise tax would pave the way for a sales tax elsewhere.
“We will rue the day that we did this,” he said.

Hopkins said lawmakers had a choice between his bill and I-190, which technically became law after the voters passed it last year. If HB701 didn’t pass before the end of the session, the recreational marijuana market would launch under the provisions of I-190. For much of the debate, adopting I-190 as-is was the preference of Democrats and the initiative’s supporters, but amendments introduced in the Senate to use recreational marijuana tax revenues to fund conservation easements under the Habitat Montana program beginning in 2023 helped earned support from the minority that was ultimately crucial for getting the bill through.

“Voting against 701 is the literal acknowledgement of I-190,” Hopkins said.

Environmental groups in Montana lauded the passage of the bill Tuesday.

“This is a win for public access, a win for working ranches, and a win for our outdoor recreation economy,” said Nick Gevock, conservation director with the Montana Wildlife Federation. The conservation program that would come out the furthest ahead under HB701 is Habitat Montana, which leverages a combination of funds to secure easements on private land.

“Just last year alone, we had more than $33 million in private land conservation projects proposed to the state, and we were able to fund $21 million of them,” Gevock said.

The full funding for the program isn’t technically available until the next biennium. One session’s legislature can’t bind the hands of the next, so future lawmakers can change how the marijuana funds are allocated.

“The money will accrue, and it’s incumbent upon us to continue our campaign and continue our support and hopefully see some teed up really quality projects waiting for the money,” Gevock said, adding that it’s a “great day for Montana.”
This story was first published by Daily Montanan.
 

GOP Senator Highlights Montana Sheriff’s Support For Marijuana Banking Bill In New Ad​


A Montana sheriff is throwing his support behind a marijuana banking bill being sponsored by one of the state’s Republican U.S. senators.

In an ad being promoted by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said that because cannabis businesses are forced to operate on a largely cash-only basis due to federal prohibition, that makes them targets of crime. And with Montana voters opting to legalize adult-use marijuana, it’s imperative to enact a federal policy change.

“We’re not talking about thousands of dollars—we’re talking about millions of dollars that will flow through” cannabis companies, Slaughter said. “So there become security risk factors of how do you keep this money secure? Banks have perfected this.”



The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act “completely makes our communities safer,” he said. “Senator Daines is taking a very responsible and logical step to ensure public safety, and truly what he’s doing is he’s looking out not only for the citizens but he’s looking out for me because it enhances my ability to protect the public as well.”

The Montana legislature sent a bill to implement marijuana legalization to the governor last week, months after voters approved a reform proposal at the ballot. That means more businesses in Daines’s state would stand to benefit from the federal policy change beyond the ones that currently operate under Montana’s existing medical cannabis program.



The U.S. House of Representatives passed its companion version of the SAFE Banking Actlast month. Advocates are optimistic that, with Democrats now in control of the Senate and the White House, it will advance through Congress and arrive on President Joe Biden’s desk.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was recently pressed on next steps for the bill, and he tempered expectations about the timing for advancing the reform.

Brown has made clear that he’s not eager to move on the SAFE Banking Act, citing reservations about certain provisions. “I think we need to look at a number of things,” he said in an interview, adding that “I will look at this seriously. We’re not ready to move on it.”

That said, Brown has been talking with other Senate leaders about a way forward for cannabis banking legislation.

One thing the chairman previously said he wanted to do was tie the cannabis banking legislation to sentencing reform. That’s fine by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), sponsor of the House version of the SAFE Banking Act who said he’s fine with making it a “bigger bill,” but now it seems Brown is being open to dropping that condition.

As it stands, the banking legislation has 36 cosponsors in the Senate, plus its lead sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), which means more than a third of the chamber is already formally signed on.

The vote in the House last month marked the fourth time the chamber has approved the SAFE Banking Act. Lawmakers passed it as a standalone bill in 2019 and then twice more as part of coronavirus relief legislation. At no point did the measure move forward in the Senate under Republican control last session, however.

The legislation would ensure that financial institutions could take on cannabis business clients without facing federal penalties. Fear of sanctions has kept many banks and credit unions from working with the industry, forcing marijuana firms to operate on a cash basis that makes them targets of crime and creates complications for financial regulators.

After it passed the House last Congress, advocates and stakeholders closely watched for any action to come out of the Senate Banking Committee, where it was referred after being transmitted to the chamber. But then-Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) did not hold a hearing on the proposal, despite talk of negotiations taking place regarding certain provisions.

Crapo said he opposed the reform proposal, but he signaled that he might be more amenable if it included certain provisions viewed as untenable to the industry, including a two percent THC potency limit on products in order for cannabis businesses to qualify to access financial services as well as blocking banking services for operators that sell high-potency vaping devices or edibles that could appeal to children.

When legislative leaders announced that the SAFE Banking Act was getting a House vote in 2019, there was pushback from some advocates who felt that Congress should have prioritized comprehensive reform to legalize marijuana and promote social equity, rather than start with a measure viewed as primarily friendly to industry interests.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and an original cosponsor of the bill, said last month that the plan is to pass the banking reform first this session because it “is a public safety crisis now,” and it’s “distinct—as we’ve heard from some of my colleagues—distinct from how they feel about comprehensive reform.”

This comes as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) works with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) on legislation to federally legalize cannabis. Schumer told Marijuana Moment last month that he doesn’t want to risk undermining comprehensive reform by passing more modest changes like the SAFE Banking Act first.

Meanwhile, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said recently that he plans to reintroduce his reform bill, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which cleared the chamber last year but did not advance in the Senate under GOP control.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arb

Montana Governor Signs Marijuana Legalization Implementation Bill​


The legislation makes some changes to the voter-approved cannabis measure but is closer to the ballot initiative than some plans lawmakers floated this session.

By Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Daily Montanan

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) on Tuesday signed House Bill 701, landmark legislation that implements and regulates the recreational marijuana program that voters approved in a ballot initiative last year and funds a substance abuse prevention program that the new governor has championed since his first days in office.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, followed a long and bumpy path to the governor’s desk, emerging among a slew of other proposals in the back half of the session. Even on the 67th Legislature’s final day, the Senate considered an ultimately failed proposal to alter HB701’s carefully negotiated taxation and revenue allocation structure and significantly tighten medical card requirements.

Under HB701, retail sails of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older will begin in January of next year. The half of Montana counties that voted for I-190, the ballot initiative legalizing adult-use cannabis, will have recreational in their borders by default, while voters in the the other half of counties will have to take an affirmative action to bring recreational marijuana in their boundaries if so desired. Recreational pot will be taxed at 20 percent, while medical marijuana will retain a 5 percent tax. The bill also moves operation and regulation of the state’s marijuana program from the Department of Public Health and Human Services to the Department of Revenue.

And it creates a special drug court to handle the review and possible resentencing or expungement of past marijuana-related convictions, a key goal of criminal justice advocates for the marijuana program.

The new marijuana law also uses tax revenues from the sale of the product—which could reach tens of millions of dollars a year, depending on the estimate—to help finance the HEART Fund, a drug treatment program that would dole out state money to local organizations and non-profits to fill gaps in the continuum of substance abuse care and prevention services, Gianforte’s office said.

With marijuana revenues, federal Medicaid match dollars and an infusion of tobacco settlement funds, the governor’s office estimated that the HEART Fund—short for Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment—could invest $25 million a year in substance abuse treatment.

“From the start, I’ve been clear that we need to bring more resources to bear to combat the drug epidemic that’s devastating our communities,” Gianforte said in his statement. “Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new supports to Montanans who want to get clean, sober, and healthy.”

How much to tax pot and what to do with the money formed the core of debate over HB701. I-190 laid out a plan for revenues from a 20 percent tax to fund veterans services, park and trail maintenance and the acquisition of conservation easements through Habitat Montana. But the initiative, which passed with a healthy 57 percent of the vote, was quickly challenged in court, as only the Legislature has the constitutional authority to appropriate state funds. The suit is still ongoing.

So lawmakers this session set about drafting plans to spend or save the money themselves. Some conservatives favored a plan to lower the tax on recreational pot, fearing that a 20 percent levy would drive consumers to the black market, and put revenues in an interest-bearing trust fund that could be used to defray negative effects of legalization further down the line. Democrats wanted to hew as close to I-190 as possible, arguing that anything else disregarded the will of the voters and the pro-public lands ethos that underlies much of Montana politics.

Initially, HB701 made minor investments in parks, trails and non-game wildlife, paid into the HEART Fund at a rate of $6 million a year and left the rest to the general fund. But regular agitation from conservation groups and a deal struck in the Senate restored part of I-190’s funding structure, albeit on a delayed schedule, and revived many of its other provisions, earning support from initiative backers and authors who had been hesitant to embrace any legislative changes to I-190 earlier in the session.

“Since January, we’ve been focused on implementing the will of Montana voters in a safe, responsible, and appropriately regulated manner. House Bill 701 accomplishes this,” Gianforte said in a press statement sent out after he signed the bill May 18.

This piece was first published by Daily Montanan.
 
momofthegoons said:

Montana Governor Signs Marijuana Legalization Implementation Bill​


The legislation makes some changes to the voter-approved cannabis measure but is closer to the ballot initiative than some plans lawmakers floated this session.

By Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Daily Montanan

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) on Tuesday signed House Bill 701, landmark legislation that implements and regulates the recreational marijuana program that voters approved in a ballot initiative last year and funds a substance abuse prevention program that the new governor has championed since his first days in office.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, followed a long and bumpy path to the governor’s desk, emerging among a slew of other proposals in the back half of the session. Even on the 67th Legislature’s final day, the Senate considered an ultimately failed proposal to alter HB701’s carefully negotiated taxation and revenue allocation structure and significantly tighten medical card requirements.

Under HB701, retail sails of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older will begin in January of next year. The half of Montana counties that voted for I-190, the ballot initiative legalizing adult-use cannabis, will have recreational in their borders by default, while voters in the the other half of counties will have to take an affirmative action to bring recreational marijuana in their boundaries if so desired. Recreational pot will be taxed at 20 percent, while medical marijuana will retain a 5 percent tax. The bill also moves operation and regulation of the state’s marijuana program from the Department of Public Health and Human Services to the Department of Revenue.

And it creates a special drug court to handle the review and possible resentencing or expungement of past marijuana-related convictions, a key goal of criminal justice advocates for the marijuana program.

The new marijuana law also uses tax revenues from the sale of the product—which could reach tens of millions of dollars a year, depending on the estimate—to help finance the HEART Fund, a drug treatment program that would dole out state money to local organizations and non-profits to fill gaps in the continuum of substance abuse care and prevention services, Gianforte’s office said.

With marijuana revenues, federal Medicaid match dollars and an infusion of tobacco settlement funds, the governor’s office estimated that the HEART Fund—short for Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment—could invest $25 million a year in substance abuse treatment.

“From the start, I’ve been clear that we need to bring more resources to bear to combat the drug epidemic that’s devastating our communities,” Gianforte said in his statement. “Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new supports to Montanans who want to get clean, sober, and healthy.”

How much to tax pot and what to do with the money formed the core of debate over HB701. I-190 laid out a plan for revenues from a 20 percent tax to fund veterans services, park and trail maintenance and the acquisition of conservation easements through Habitat Montana. But the initiative, which passed with a healthy 57 percent of the vote, was quickly challenged in court, as only the Legislature has the constitutional authority to appropriate state funds. The suit is still ongoing.

So lawmakers this session set about drafting plans to spend or save the money themselves. Some conservatives favored a plan to lower the tax on recreational pot, fearing that a 20 percent levy would drive consumers to the black market, and put revenues in an interest-bearing trust fund that could be used to defray negative effects of legalization further down the line. Democrats wanted to hew as close to I-190 as possible, arguing that anything else disregarded the will of the voters and the pro-public lands ethos that underlies much of Montana politics.

Initially, HB701 made minor investments in parks, trails and non-game wildlife, paid into the HEART Fund at a rate of $6 million a year and left the rest to the general fund. But regular agitation from conservation groups and a deal struck in the Senate restored part of I-190’s funding structure, albeit on a delayed schedule, and revived many of its other provisions, earning support from initiative backers and authors who had been hesitant to embrace any legislative changes to I-190 earlier in the session.

“Since January, we’ve been focused on implementing the will of Montana voters in a safe, responsible, and appropriately regulated manner. House Bill 701 accomplishes this,” Gianforte said in a press statement sent out after he signed the bill May 18.

This piece was first published by Daily Montanan.
Click to expand...
Well...........at least nobodies kid is gonna get their life destroyed over cannabis any more here.
The whole "drug epidemic ravaging our communities" is complete bullshit but what ever,right?
 

Montana Issues Proposed Rules for Future Cannabis Marketplace​

Montana finally issued the proposed rules for their cannabis industry, and those poised to get involved are now preparing to meet deadlines.

Regulators in Montana last week issued a slate of proposed rules for the state’s coming recreational marijuana marketplace, and cannabis advocates are excited to get started.

Pot sales for adults aged 21 and older are scheduled to get underway on New Year’s Day in Big Sky Country, which means the clock is ticking for the Montana Department of Revenue to lay out regulations for the would-be cannabis businesses.

“The deadlines are aggressive,” said Kristan Barbour, administrator of the Department of Revenue’s Cannabis Control Division, as quoted by local television station KTVH. “Really, the rules are our biggest challenge.”

The Department of Revenue will hold a public hearing in the capital city of Helena on November 16 to consider adoption of the proposed rules.

“Our focus was really to be business-friendly and to try to work with the industry in a fashion that makes the rules adaptable to their current business structure and that they’ll be able to evolve into without a whole lot of pain,” Barbour told KTVH.

Voters in Montana passed a proposal at the ballot last year to legalize adult-use marijuana, one of four states to vote to end pot prohibition in the 2020 election. (Arizona, New Jersey and South Dakota were the others).

In the spring, lawmakers in Montana passed a bill to implement the voter-approved legal pot program, which Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed into law in mid-May.

The legislation, known as House Bill 701, “implements and regulates the recreational marijuana program that voters approved in a ballot initiative last year and funds a substance abuse prevention program that the new governor has championed since his first days in office,” the Daily Montanan reported at the time.

In a statement after signing the bill, Gianforte touted the HEART Fund, which will take revenue from the adult-use weed program to help fund substance abuse treatment. He stands behind this organization and feels they play a big part in the future of legalization in the state.

“From the start, I’ve been clear that we need to bring more resources to bear to combat the drug epidemic that’s devastating our communities,” Gianforte said at the time. “Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new support to Montanans who want to get clean, sober and healthy.”

The proposed rules unveiled by the state’s Department of Revenue last week cover 15 different sections related to the implementation of the program: license, application and renewal fees; marijuana manufacturer licenses; marijuana cultivator licenses; marijuana dispensary licenses; marijuana transporter licenses; combined use licenses; marijuana testing laboratory licenses; marijuana storage facility endorsement; worker permits; general labeling requirements; labeling requirements for marijuana flower; labeling of ingestible marijuana-infused products; labeling of non-ingestible marijuana-infused products; labeling requirements for marijuana concentrates and extracts and packaging requirements.

Montana voters initially legalized medical marijuana treatment back in 2004. They approved the recreational pot measure in 2020 with 57 percent support.

And there are yet more pot-related questions on the ballot this year for certain Montana voters. According to KTVH, “voters in Missoula and Yellowstone Counties could endorse a 3 percent, local option tax on recreational sales, medical sales or both,” while voters “in Billings will vote whether to allow or prohibit adult-use marijuana dispensaries within city limits.”

As reported by the Daily Montanan, the new law allows the one-half of state counties that approved last year’s ballot initiative to “have recreational in their borders by default, while voters in the the other half of counties will have to take an affirmative action to bring recreational marijuana in their boundaries if so desired.”
 
  • Sad
Reactions: arb
momofthegoons said:

Montana Issues Proposed Rules for Future Cannabis Marketplace​

Montana finally issued the proposed rules for their cannabis industry, and those poised to get involved are now preparing to meet deadlines.

Regulators in Montana last week issued a slate of proposed rules for the state’s coming recreational marijuana marketplace, and cannabis advocates are excited to get started.

Pot sales for adults aged 21 and older are scheduled to get underway on New Year’s Day in Big Sky Country, which means the clock is ticking for the Montana Department of Revenue to lay out regulations for the would-be cannabis businesses.

“The deadlines are aggressive,” said Kristan Barbour, administrator of the Department of Revenue’s Cannabis Control Division, as quoted by local television station KTVH. “Really, the rules are our biggest challenge.”

The Department of Revenue will hold a public hearing in the capital city of Helena on November 16 to consider adoption of the proposed rules.

“Our focus was really to be business-friendly and to try to work with the industry in a fashion that makes the rules adaptable to their current business structure and that they’ll be able to evolve into without a whole lot of pain,” Barbour told KTVH.

Voters in Montana passed a proposal at the ballot last year to legalize adult-use marijuana, one of four states to vote to end pot prohibition in the 2020 election. (Arizona, New Jersey and South Dakota were the others).

In the spring, lawmakers in Montana passed a bill to implement the voter-approved legal pot program, which Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed into law in mid-May.

The legislation, known as House Bill 701, “implements and regulates the recreational marijuana program that voters approved in a ballot initiative last year and funds a substance abuse prevention program that the new governor has championed since his first days in office,” the Daily Montanan reported at the time.

In a statement after signing the bill, Gianforte touted the HEART Fund, which will take revenue from the adult-use weed program to help fund substance abuse treatment. He stands behind this organization and feels they play a big part in the future of legalization in the state.

“From the start, I’ve been clear that we need to bring more resources to bear to combat the drug epidemic that’s devastating our communities,” Gianforte said at the time. “Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new support to Montanans who want to get clean, sober and healthy.”

The proposed rules unveiled by the state’s Department of Revenue last week cover 15 different sections related to the implementation of the program: license, application and renewal fees; marijuana manufacturer licenses; marijuana cultivator licenses; marijuana dispensary licenses; marijuana transporter licenses; combined use licenses; marijuana testing laboratory licenses; marijuana storage facility endorsement; worker permits; general labeling requirements; labeling requirements for marijuana flower; labeling of ingestible marijuana-infused products; labeling of non-ingestible marijuana-infused products; labeling requirements for marijuana concentrates and extracts and packaging requirements.

Montana voters initially legalized medical marijuana treatment back in 2004. They approved the recreational pot measure in 2020 with 57 percent support.

And there are yet more pot-related questions on the ballot this year for certain Montana voters. According to KTVH, “voters in Missoula and Yellowstone Counties could endorse a 3 percent, local option tax on recreational sales, medical sales or both,” while voters “in Billings will vote whether to allow or prohibit adult-use marijuana dispensaries within city limits.”

As reported by the Daily Montanan, the new law allows the one-half of state counties that approved last year’s ballot initiative to “have recreational in their borders by default, while voters in the the other half of counties will have to take an affirmative action to bring recreational marijuana in their boundaries if so desired.”
Click to expand...
The legislature changed what was voted on by almost all of it while nearly eliminating the home grow option.Changed what was voted for the money to be spent on it is a complete hijack of the vote.Here we have the right cheek mostly........mostly.
All in cahoots on this one though.......unity at last.
Nice that adults don't have to worry about possession in public at least,that's a giant leap forward I reckon.
 

Montana Marijuana Regulators Push Strict Ban On Industry Workers With Any Kind Of Criminal Convictions​


Montana regulators are proposing strict new rules for people working in the state’s marijuana industry that would end employment eligibility for anyone with a criminal conviction within the past three years. And that would include offenses like simple cannabis possession that have been made legal under the state’s new law.

It’s a move that advocates say would undermine the social justice objectives of legalization and defies the intent of lawmakers who advanced legislation to implement legalization after voters approved it on the ballot last year.

Under the rules proposed by the Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) on Wednesday, regulators listed a series of factors that are “grounds for suspension or revocation of a worker permit.”

That includes any “conviction, guilty plea, or plea of no contest to a criminal offense within three years of the application or renewal.” DOR specified that the prohibition involves a violation of “any provision of the marijuana laws,” including those of other states.

A public hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for November 30, and comments are being accepted until December 6.

The broad employment language is distinct from what workers in other state-legal cannabis markets are subjected to. And because of racial disparities in the criminal justice system—particularly as it concerns enforcement of drug laws—advocates have voiced concern that DOR’s rules would further drive disparities.

“Montana DOR just flushed restorative justice down the toilet with absurd their new rules, and to add insult to injury they want to make it harder to be a budtender or marijuana worker now when we are in the middle of an employment crisis,” Pepper Peterson of the Montana Cannabis Guild said in an email to Marijuana Moment.

He said new that proposed rules “contradict legislative negotiations and intent and just appear to be a massive power grab by the DOR.”

Montana voters approved adult-use legalization last year, and the governor signed implementation legislation in May.

That bill did stipulate that people seeking employment in the cannabis sector must report to regulators whether they have a felony conviction, a violation of a cannabis law in another state or any citation related to selling alcohol or tobacco to someone underage—but it didn’t say they were automatically disqualified.

DOR appears to have reinterpreted the policy in a way that’s significantly more restrictive by including a much broader array of convictions as automatic bans.

That said, the department’s proposed rules and the implementation legislation both say that there’s an appeals process for those working in the cannabis market.

Rep. Katie Sullivan (D), who serves on the Legislature’s Economic Affairs Interim Committee that has oversight over the department’s rulemaking, told The Daily Montanan that “there’s a lot going into the rules that’s kind of new.”

“We definitely have to be really careful and read everything,” she said.

Regulators also faced pushback earlier this year over proposed rules on advertising for marijuana businesses.

While not directly related to cannabis industry employment eligibility, the decision by Montana’s DOR stand in stark contrast to what other legal states are doing with respect to marijuana and workplace issues.

The New York Department of Labor recently clarified that employers overall are no longer allowed to drug test most workers for marijuana, for example.

Congressional lawmakers in the Senate and House have both included language in recent appropriations reports urging a review of employment policies for federal agencies with respect to personal use of cannabis. The House version passed in July, while the Senate Democrats’ report was released on Monday.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued a memo to federal agencies that says admitting to past marijuana use should not automatically disqualify people from being employed in the federal government.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration came under criticism this year after it was reported that it had fired or otherwise punished dozens of staffers who admitted to prior marijuana use. That came after the White House instituted a policy of granting waivers to some staff who’ve used cannabis.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki subsequently said that nobody in the White House was fired for “marijuana usage from years ago,” nor has anyone been terminated “due to casual or infrequent use during the prior 12 months.” However, she’s consistently declined to speak to the extent to which staff have been suspended or placed in a remote work program because they were honest about their history with marijuana on a federal form that’s part of the background check process.

A key U.S. House committee approved a large-scale defense spending bill in September that includes report language voicing concern about racial disparities in military drug testing practices and ordering the Pentagon to conduct a review of the issue.

In the private sector, Amazon recently said that its earlier decision to end drug testing for cannabis will also be retroactive, meaning former workers and applicants who were punished for testing positive for THC will have their employment eligibility restored.

Last month, the NBA said it is extending its policy of not randomly drug testing players for marijuana through the 2021-2022 season.
 

Montana Regulators Open To Revising Marijuana Industry Employment And CBD Restrictions​


“We are doing our very, very best to effectuate legislative intent.”

By Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Daily Montanan

The Montana Department of Revenue told lawmakers Tuesday that it’s open to amending a pair of controversial rules the agency drafted in order to implement House Bill 701, a sprawling bill passed this year regulating the state’s newly created recreational marijuana industry.

“That bill is anything but a piece of perfection as far as legislative intent goes,” said the DOR’s Brendan Beatty to the Revenue Committee. “That thing goes live January 1 whether we have rules or not, and we need rules.”

Two of the rules that have been most at issue, one restricting dispensary employment opportunities for those with prior criminal or marijuana-related convictions and the other effectively banning dispensaries from selling CBD products, are part of a series of larger rule packages that the department needs to develop under HB701, which becomes effective January 1 of next year.

While many of the department’s rules have received pushback, these have been especially hard to stomach for the burgeoning recreational pot sector, and have caused additional concern among lawmakers that they were veering from legislative intent.

“We really need these to be changed,” said Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, the chair of the bipartisan Interim Revenue Committee, which reviewed a batch of DOR rules on Tuesday.

The employment rule pertains to suspension or revocation of marijuana worker permits, a new requirement under HB701. While the bill requires sector employees to undergo a criminal background check and notify the department of a felony conviction, a marijuana law violation in another jurisdiction, or a citation for selling alcohol or tobacco to a minor within 10 days, the rule that the department drafted to implement that provision notes that a conviction, guilty plea or plea of no contest for any crime in the previous three years would be “grounds for suspension or revocation of a [marijuana] worker permit,” as would be the “conviction, guilty plea, or plea of no contest to violating a marijuana law of any other state” at any time.

To legalization advocates and policymakers, the deviation from statute, though technical in nature, seemed to contradict the goals of economic gain and restorative justice.

“I would certainly say that in reading that rule and the language that’s put in there, in my opinion, it’s not legislative intent,” said Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, a key player in the passage of HB701 through the upper chamber and a member of the legislative Economic Affairs Interim Committee (EAIC), which has oversight authority on certain rules. “In discussions [on HB701], it was my belief that the intent of the legislature was, if a person had a minor conviction that would now be not a conviction, for instance, if somebody was caught with a small amount of marijuana, that would not rise to a felony or a situation like that. It is my belief that the opinion of the legislature as I see it is we don’t want to keep people from working.”

Courtney Cosgrove, an attorney for the DOR’s Cannabis Control Division, told lawmakers Tuesday that DOR developed the rule based on its understanding of the background check and conviction notice requirements in the bill.

“Between [those requirements], the department interpreted the legislative intent to mean you must want us to do something with this information,” Cosgrove said. “Our original language…mirrored the statute. It said conviction for a felony. We then had discussions with a member of EAIC who felt that the definition should be broader than that.”

However, she noted that the department has received feedback from the public, industry and lawmakers involved in the interim committees to the contrary.

“We are open to amending that rule,” Cosgrove said.

She had a similar response to concerns on the department’s proposed ban on licensed dispensaries selling CBD, which she said stems from a section in HB701 that explicitly excludes hemp from the definition of marijuana, “including the seeds and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids” and so on—in other words, CBD.

Cosgrove noted that the rule would constitute a dramatic change for the industry, but that the department was following what it understood to be the plain language of the bill. But lawmakers on the committee said that their intent was to protect hemp growers, not ban the sale of a value-added product.

“I do believe it would be in the department’s best interest to work on that sooner rather than later,” said Cohenour. “I do not believe that it was the intention of the legislature to remove CBD products from being able to be sold in a marijuana dispensary.”

But that doesn’t mean that the bill says something other than what’s written. Cosgrove said DOR is nonetheless willing to make adjustments “if there was some other signal of legislative intent.”

In addition to an EAIC meeting later this month, the rules will be subject to public feedback at two separate hearings in November.

“We are doing our very, very best to effectuate legislative intent,” Beatty said. He noted, though, that parsing through the language of a 100+ page bill can be difficult.

This story was first published by Daily Montanan.
 

​

Montana Regulators Rescind Marijuana Industry Employment And CBD Restrictions​


“It has been made very clear by legislators and members of the public that the department’s interpretation in those two places didn’t jive with the legislature’s.”

By Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Daily Montanan

The Montana Department of Revenue told lawmakers this week that it will strike a pair of proposed rules implementing the state’s fledgling recreational marijuana program after hearing considerable input from members of the public, the cannabis industry and legislators who warned that the rules veered from the intent of House Bill 701, an act passed this session regulating the adult-use market.

The first rule would have effectively banned marijuana dispensaries from also selling CBD products, an interpretation of a provision in the statute intended to create separation between the hemp and recreational cannabis sectors.

The second would have potentially restricted employment opportunities in dispensaries for with those with any previous criminal conviction in the past three years or any marijuana law violation in any jurisdiction at any time in the past, which legalization advocates said contradicted the philosophies of restorative justice and economic development that undergirded Montana’s push for recreational marijuana.

But lawmakers were quick to tell the department, tasked with developing rules to implement HB701 by its January 1 effective date, that its interpretation of statute was missing the mark—for example, HB701 just says that dispensary workers with felony convictions need to notify the Department of Revenue, not that any conviction could be grounds for suspension or revocation of a marijuana worker permit.

On the CBD side, the department has said it based its draft rule on a section in HB701 that explicitly excludes hemp from the definition of marijuana, “including the seeds and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids” and so on, but lawmakers have countered they were intending to protect hemp producers, not limit the sale of a value-added product.

“It has been made very clear by legislators and members of the public that the department’s interpretation in those two places didn’t jive with the legislature’s,” DOR Director Brendan Beatty told the Economic Affairs Interim Committee (EAIC) on Wednesday.

The EAIC is one of several interim bodies that has oversight over rule-making under the Montana Administrative Procedures Act.

“We have drafted what is now basically a draft proposal to strike that language on the criminal convictions,” Beatty said, adding that the department was doing the same for the CBD ban.

HB701, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, is a 150-page monster that emerged as one of the 2021 session’s flagship pieces of legislation, shaped by dozens of amendments and months of negotiations between stakeholders and key lawmakers in both chambers. The bill didn’t legalize marijuana itself—that was thanks to the passage of ballot initiative 190 by the voters in 2020—but served as a way for the legislature, ever-hesitant to cede its authority, to have input over the marijuana regulatory environment.

Among numerous other provisions, the bill moved control over both Montana’s medical and recreational marijuana industries to the Department of Revenue, which has been at work since the end of session to draft dozens of new rules needed to fill in the blanks in statute.

“Trying to implement this bill has been a herculean task, and at least anecdotally, I’ve been told that HB701 is the most amended bill in the history of the Montana legislature,” Beatty told the interim committee. “There are some ambiguous places, some places where words have been put into statute where the legislature may not have intended.”

This story was first published by Daily Montanan.
 

Montana Lawmakers Reject Marijuana Rules, Weeks Ahead Of Legal Sales Launch​


“We only get one opportunity at this, and we need to make sure that we get it right.”

By Keith Schubert, Daily Montanan

The Economic Affairs Interim Committee unanimously voted on Thursday to stall the rulemaking process for implementing the state’s new recreational marijuana program, with lawmakers asserting that some of the Department of Revenue’s (DOR) interpretations of House Bill 701, a law passed this session regulating recreational marijuana, stray too far from its legislative intent.

As the January 1 implementation deadline for the program inches closer, the committee postponed all decisions on the new rules proposal until its next meeting on Monday. Until then, Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, will work with DOR to clarify and amend the rules to more closely match legislative intent.

“I would say that trying to pass a comprehensive rules package that is on a key piece of legislation that affects everyone in Montana is a very difficult task. We have to be precise, in our wording, phrasing and it’s very important to get that accurate. We only get one opportunity at this, and we need to make sure that we get it right,” Ellsworth said.

During Thursday’s meeting, lawmakers and members of the public weighed in on equity among tribes in the implementation process, how licensing fees should be handled, warning labels on marijuana packaging and who should benefit from a moratorium on new licenses.

The Hamilton legislator was specifically concerned about the language surrounding Native American tribes’ ability to expand their marijuana grow operations under their automatic combined-use licenses and whether dispensaries or the DOR should be tasked with coming up with training standards for industry employees.

Ellsworth also opposed a rule change that would allow for “cannabis” to be used on warning labels as a substitute for “marijuana.”

“Children don’t understand what cannabis is, but they understand what marijuana is. So if we are going to label something with a warning to make sure children heed that warning, we need to be concise,” he said.

Morigeau said with a program this extensive, the committee needs to ensure they are doing everything they can to implement it effectively.

“We’re pushing out a lot of rules and a lot of processes for an industry that has often been under a lot of scrutiny, so we are just trying to make sure we are doing our best to satisfy everybody’s concerns,” he said.

Along with combined-use licenses, Morigeau said he wants to examine licensing fees and a potential moratorium on new marijuana testing laboratories, two topics heavily discussed during public comment.

To align with legislative intent, both Morigeau and Ellsworth said the DOR’s interpretation of combined-use licenses should have made it clear that the tribes can expand their marijuana cultivation beyond tier one, the lowest tier. The licenses allow Montana’s tribes to cultivate marijuana and open a dispensary on the same property. The DOR may issue eight combined-use licenses, one for each tribe.

“Our intent was that the combined-use licenses were the [entry point] and an opportunity for those tribes to tier up equally and fairly just like everyone else,” Morigeau said.

During public comment, industry professionals debated whether there should be a moratorium on applications to open marijuana laboratory testing facilities, like for dispensaries. The 18-month moratorium is meant to give Montana dispensaries a head start on out-of-state competition, something dispensaries and other industry businesses advocated for to make sure they were not pushed out of the market.

Dispensary owners said more labs in the state are necessary with the expected increased production that comes with recreational legalization to avoid a bottleneck in services.

But Nathan Kosted, who works at a marijuana testing laboratory in Stillwater, said labs can process up to 30 tons of marijuana per month and can handle any supply increases. And he said the labs should be the beneficiary of a moratorium just like other businesses in the industry.

“People are not excluding labs on purpose. They rarely if ever think about us…or the last four years of legal medical sales in Montana, we are always forgotten,” he said.

Morigeau agreed. “I still think they dumped a lot of money into the industry like everyone else, and that they should be included in the moratorium. I think everyone is going to be getting hammered with increased demand,” he said.

Barbie Turner said in the past, she would pay fees for her dispensary license and her manufacturing license at different times in the year, but now she said they are all due on January 13.

“So instead of having, you know, roughly $25,000 due now and $15,000 due later in the year, we are looking at about $40,000 to $50,000 in licensing straight out of the gate,” she said. “This could prove detrimental for many other businesses, especially a smaller business, in this industry.”

Ellsworth said he wasn’t aware of the issue until public comment on Thursday and that he would look into the licensing structure and work with DOR to make sure it’s structured in a way that protects smaller businesses.

“It’s a new issue that I’m being made cognizant of, but in 701, it does allow the department to stagger licenses…so I think potentially, there could be a solution there,” he said.

In mid-November after pushback from legislators and legalization advocates, DOR announced changes in two high-profile rules. One rule allows for the sale of certain CBD products in dispensaries and another removes language that would have restricted employment opportunities for those with any previous criminal conviction in the past three years or any marijuana law violation in any jurisdiction at any time in the past.

This piece was first published by Daily Montanan.
 

What To Expect When Montana Recreational Marijuana Sales Launch On January 1​


“There may not be much product available after the first couple of days, for several weeks.”

By Max Savage Levenson, Montana Free Press

On January 1, 2022, adult-use recreational marijuana will become available for purchase in Montana. The launch of the new market raises a wide range of questions, from how much marijuana an individual can possess, to whether they can consume it in a national park, to the types of products that will be available for purchase.

Read on for answers to those questions, and many more, in this Montana Free Press guide to the state’s post-prohibition marijuana marketplace.

WHO CAN BUY MARIJUANA IN MONTANA? ​

Starting January 1, 2022, any adult age 21 or older can purchase marijuana and marijuana products. That includes Montana residents, residents of other American states and territories and international travelers with valid identification.

WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING WITH ME TO A DISPENSARY? ​

Bring identification proving that you are 21 years of age.

Virtually all marijuana transactions are in cash due to ongoing federal restrictions on banking services for the industry. Bring your own to avoid paying ATM fees at the shop.

Shops are required to put your purchases in a plastic, child-proof “exit bag.” On subsequent trips, bring that reusable exit bag with you to limit waste and avoid paying for a new one.

Especially during the opening weeks of the recreational program, bring a good dose of patience. Budtenders will be answering lots of questions from novice consumers, and lines may be long.

WILL THE STATE TRACK MY PURCHASES OR PUT ME ON A LIST OF MARIJUANA CONSUMERS? ​

No. While a business can make a scan of your identification “to determine the consumer’s age,” per House Bill 701, the state’s legalization framework bill, it can only keep those records for 180 days. Furthermore, dispensaries are not permitted to share that information with the state, nor can they transfer or sell it to a third party.

WHAT KINDS OF MARIJUANA PRODUCTS CAN I PURCHASE AT A MONTANA DISPENSARY? ​

Customers will be able to purchase a wide array of products including marijuana flower (the smokable green buds), edibles, tinctures, vaporizer cartridges, concentrates and topicals. These products must be produced within the state of Montana.

Marijuana flower cannot contain more than 35 percent THC, the most common psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant (this applies exclusively to recreational sales, not medical sales). Flower typically contains between 15 percent and 25 percent THC, and is available in various strains with obscure and vivid names, from Apple Fritter to Peanut Butter Lady and Missoula Kush Cake.

Edibles are available in many forms, including chocolates, gummies, infused olive oils and more. A package of recreational market edibles cannot contain more than 100mg of THC (again, this does not apply to medical patients).

“Concentrates” are extracted cannabis oils, which tend to be extremely potent and are not recommended for novice consumers.

Customers will additionally be able to purchase smoking accessories such as bongs, pipes and dab rigs—a specific type of glass pipe used to consume concentrates—from pot shops. Those products can be manufactured in-state or imported from elsewhere.

Businesses will also be able to sell CBD products. CBD (technically known as cannabidiol) is typically derived from federally legal hemp, and is sold in edible, tincture, topical and other forms. Those products can be manufactured within Montana or imported from other states.

Pot shops cannot sell hemp plant material.

IS MARIJUANA TESTED IN MONTANA? ​

Yes. All products must be tested for a wide range of bacteria, mold and heavy metals, as well as for potency and the various compounds they contain. The state is home to several testing labs; Fidelity Diagnostics and Stillwater Laboratories are the two largest facilities.

ARE SHOPS EXPECTED TO RUN OUT OF MARIJUANA QUICKLY? ​

Industry stakeholders and business owners are bracing for a large influx of new customers that may liquidate their inventory quickly.

“There may not be much product available after the first couple of days, for several weeks,” said Pepper Petersen, president of the industry association Montana Cannabis Guild. “Everyone’s been prepping to get ready for this, but national trends [in states that have previously legalized] indicate a level of demand three to five times larger than for medical marijuana.” There could be 200,000 new in-state customers, he added.

HOW MUCH MARIJUANA CAN I PURCHASE AT A TIME? ​

Customers will be able to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana per transaction, or the THC equivalent in other forms: 800 milligrams of edibles or eight grams of concentrate.

Customers are not limited to a single type of product, and can mix and match up to the limit between different forms.

WILL MY PURCHASE BE TAXED? ​

Yes. All recreational marijuana purchases will be subject to a flat 20 percent sales tax. As of this writing, Missoula, Park and Yellowstone counties have enacted an additional local-option 3 percent tax.

HOW LATE CAN DISPENSARIES STAY OPEN? ​

Per House Bill 701, recreational and medical marijuana businesses cannot open before 9 AM or stay open past 8 PM.

CAN ONE SHOP SELL ANOTHER BUSINESS’S MARIJUANA OR MARIJUANA PRODUCTS? ​

Yes. Although Montana’s medical marijuana industry was previously vertically integrated, meaning that any medical dispensary was required to grow its own cannabis plants and produce any other additional products themselves, that restriction has been removed from both the medical and recreational markets in the adult-use legalization bill. As a result, a shop can now purchase wholesale and sell another grower’s marijuana flower, gummies, vape cartridges and tinctures.

CAN I BUY MARIJUANA ANYWHERE IN MONTANA? ​

No. Per HB 701, only counties where a majority of residents voted in favor of cannabis legalization during the 2020 election have authorized recreational sales, and are referred to as “green counties.” Counties that did not vote in favor of legalization, however, have the right to take a re-vote on the question and switch from a “red county” to a “green county.”

Generally speaking, counties in western Montana have been more amenable to permitting marijuana sales.

You can find the full current list of “green” and “red” counties here.

HOW MUCH MARIJUANA CAN I LEGALLY POSSESS? ​

Possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, or its THC equivalent in edibles, concentrates and other products, is legal in the state of Montana.

Possession of larger quantities of marijuana remains illegal in Montana. Possession of between one and two ounces is considered a civil infraction and subject to fines of up to $500. Possession of more than two ounces is considered a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and/or fines up to $45,000.

CAN I DRIVE WITH MARIJUANA IN MY VEHICLE IN MONTANA? ​

Yes, but there’s a huge caveat: It must be in its unopened, original packaging and stored outside of the car’s “passenger area.” In other words, it’s required to be, per HB 701, either (a) in a locked glove compartment or storage compartment; (b) in a trunk, luggage compartment, truck bed or cargo compartment; (c) behind the last upright seat of a motor vehicle that is not equipped with a trunk or (d) in a closed container in the area of a motor vehicle that is not equipped with a trunk and that is not normally occupied by the driver or a passenger.

The law notes that a person convicted of the offense of unlawful possession of a legally permitted quantity of marijuana in a motor vehicle “shall be fined an amount not to exceed $100.”

IS IT LEGAL TO DRIVE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MARIJUANA?​

No. As the Montana Cannabis Guild’s Petersen explained, law enforcement officers have the jurisdiction to stop anyone driving erratically. If the officer has reason to believe the driver is under the influence of marijuana—i.e., if they can smell marijuana in the car, or the driver’s eyes are red—they can transport the driver to a hospital to administer a DUI test. Refusing a blood test can result in a temporary suspension of a driver’s license.

As the drug policy organization NORML points out, a first offense for drugged driving can result in imprisonment for between 24 hours and six months and fines between $300 and $1,000. Subsequent offenses carry more serious consequences.

CAN I POSSESS OR CONSUME MARIJUANA ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN MONTANA? ​

This question is extremely complicated and contingent on how federal marijuana laws may be enforced in Indian Country, as well as how each tribe approaches the question of marijuana legalization. Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, even though it is legal in the eyes of the state.

But, as state Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, explained, “tribes have limited criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians.” Asked if tribal courts would prosecute marijuana possession or public consumption charges, he suggested “probably not,” but acknowledged that federal law enforcement remains “a wild card.”

Morigeau recommends playing it safe. “Be familiar with the landscape,” he said. “You’re not on state land, but in a different territory. Be mindful of that framework.”

CAN I POSSESS OR CONSUME MARIJUANA IN NATIONAL PARKS? ​

No. Since national parks, including Glacier and Yellowstone, are federal land, the federal prohibition of marijuana remains in effect there as well. Getting caught with marijuana in a national park can lead to a misdemeanor charge.

As the cannabis news outlet Leafly points out, even visitors to national parks from states with legal marijuana who get charged with possession in a national park can be subject to urine tests even after they return home to their legal-marijuana state.

Representatives of both Glacier and Yellowstone national parks declined to “speculate how the park might deal with a potential influx of cannabis consumers.”

CAN I CONSUME MARIJUANA IN PUBLIC IN MONTANA? ​

No. Consuming marijuana in public is punishable by civil fines of up to $50.

CAN I LEAVE MONTANA WITH MARIJUANA IN MY POSSESSION? ​

No. It is illegal to cross state lines with marijuana in your possession. Montana’s neighbor states Idaho and Wyoming maintain strict laws criminalizing marijuana possession.

It is also illegal to fly with marijuana.

CAN I GROW MY OWN MARIJUANA IN MONTANA? ​

Yes. Montana residents are permitted to grow and possess up to two mature marijuana plants and two seedlings at home. Those plants cannot be publicly visible—failing to conceal them from view can result in a civil fine of up to $250 and forfeiture of the plants. House Bill 701 suggests that residents can possess more than one ounce of homegrown marijuana at home, as long as it is kept in a locked container and not visible to the public, but does not specify a limit.

This story was first published by Montana Free Press.
 

Recreational marijuana launch doesn't apply to all Montana counties​


HELENA — The countdown is on to Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, when legal recreational marijuana sales will begin in Montana. It’s likely to bring in a lot of new business for many existing marijuana dispensaries – but for those operating in a number of Montana’s more rural counties, it’s not going to be open for them, at least not immediately.

“I think it’s going to come as a surprise to a lot of people here in Beaverhead County,” said John Buhrman, a partner and manager at The Higher Standard, a dispensary in Dillon. “In talking to different people in Dillon and around the county, they believe Saturday morning, they’re going to be able to buy adult-use marijuana. I’m sure we’re going to have a bunch of them in the shop Saturday morning that we’ll have to turn away.”

Beaverhead County is one of Montana’s so-called “red counties,” where medical marijuana providers aren’t authorized to begin selling to recreational customers. In “green counties,” providers that were operating before voters passed the legalization measure Initiative 190 can start those sales Jan. 1.

Based on the state’s projections for recreational sales, Buhrman estimates that his business could lose out on as much as $1.2 million in revenue per year if they can’t join the adult-use market.

“Quite a kick in the pants,” he said.

As part of the negotiations over recreational marijuana during the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers inserted a provision into House Bill 701 that linked adult-use sales to whether county voters supported I-190. In counties where most voters backed legalization, recreational sales would be automatically allowed. Counties where voters rejected the measure would have to hold an additional public vote to “opt-in” to recreational marijuana.

90.png


Half of Montana’s 56 counties voted for I-190, and the other half voted against it – though the 28 “green” counties included well over 80% of the state’s population. Beaverhead County had the closest results in the state, with “No” winning 2,819 to 2,792 – a difference of just 27 votes.

Buhrman says he’s disappointed in the county-based restrictions, arguing they’re just likely to drive customers to neighboring counties or to the black market. He said, since marijuana possession won’t be illegal, people may well be driving back into the red counties with marijuana they bought elsewhere.

Counties can flip from “red” to “green” or vice versa. A resident in a red county can circulate a petition, and if they get enough signatures, another vote will be held on whether to allow adult-use sales. In a green county, leaders can call a vote on whether to prohibit marijuana businesses.

Dawson County, which includes Glendive, was the first red county to switch. Last week, they held a special election, where voters approved allowing recreational sales. County Commissioner Joe Sharbono told MTN they expect that change to take effect on Jan. 1.

In Yellowstone County, a green county, county commissioners decided to place a vote on the June primary ballot, giving residents the option to prohibit recreational sales.

Buhrman is hoping to circulate a petition for an election in Beaverhead County next year, most likely to be held in November 2022. He said, while he opposed the “red/green” split, he credited the Legislature for giving local people a path to make changes.

“We’ll work through it that way, and next year at this time, hopefully we’ll have it here in Beaverhead County and it’ll just fade into the past,” he said.
 

Adult Use Marijuana Is Now Legal in Montana. So Why Can't Everyone Enjoy It?​


Montanans voted to legalize in 2020, then things got complicated.​

As a sign of the changing times, voters in conservative Montana approved recreational marijuana in November 2020. Now the state's dispensaries are preparing for recreational cannabis sales expected to create a $325 million adult-use cannabis market in just three years.
Sales started on January 1, 2022. But they won't happen in every county—at least not initially. Montana lawmakers have decided that counties where voters did not support legalization, must hold a separate referendum to make sales legal in their county.
Still, state leaders expect big sales in so-called "green counties" where voters supported the referendum, especially in areas where tourism is a large part of the economy. In 2020, more than 11 million tourists visited Montana, a state with just over one million residents.
The start of legal sales adds Montana residents to the growing list of millions of Americans with access to recreational cannabis. The MJBizDaily Factbook projects $90 million in recreational marijuana sales in 2022 and $325 million by 2025

The interesting twist in legalization​

For consumers in Montana, the new law allows all state residents at least 21 years old to possess and use up to one ounce of cannabis without criminal penalties. The state prohibits cannabis use in public places and on federal land and waters. As with every state, driving under the influence also is illegal.



But state leaders have debated the details of legalization since 57 percent of Montana voters approved it. Earlier in 2021, lawmakers passed provisions that changed the details of the original law.
For example, the number of plants a person can grow at home is now two rather than four. Also, for the first 18 months of the program, only medical marijuana dispensaries may sell adult-use cannabis (Montana voters legalized medical marijuana in 2004).
Most significantly, lawmakers prohibited sales in counties where a majority of voters did not approve the statewide referendum – Initiative 190 - that made cannabis legal, according to the Montana Department of Revenue. For sales to happen in those counties, voters must approve a new referendum in a local election.
The reverse is also true. The department website notes: "In a county where the majority of voters supported Initiative 190, certain marijuana businesses could be prohibited if that county holds a local election and a majority of the voters choose to prohibit that type of business from operating."
Marijuana advocates swiftly moved to condemn these rules.
"Here we have lawmakers tweaking the law in ways that are inconsistent with what the majority of voters decided in favor of," NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in reaction to the changes in Montana.
"Whether or not one supports or opposes cannabis legalization, one should be deeply concerned by this trend."

Dispensaries are gearing up for big crowds​

In Missoula, where 70 percent of voters approved legalization, Greenhouse Farmacy dispensary co-owner Brian Monahan told Montana Public Radio that he expects his sales to triple in 2022. The dispensary is currently working around the clock to prepare for the start of Montana recreational cannabis sales, including ramping up production, improving the parking lot, and putting in new sales kiosks.
"I feel like I'm in a hamster wheel. It's constant," Monahan said.
"It's almost just like a marathon runner at the end of a marathon. It's like, just a couple more miles, and it's there."
Even in green counties, the amount consumers pay in sales tax will vary. The state mandates a 20 percent sales tax on marijuana sales. However, voters in the counties of Missoula, Park, and Yellowstone also approved an additional 3 percent local tax.
 
I like the idea of reusing the containers. Bringing it back with you to the dispensary. In the beginning at least you will be able to see your product. It won’t be all prepackaged at first. Curious if that will eventually change. In my state we throw away a lot of packaging. I would love to reuse a jar if I bought flowers. To be able to actually smell before you buy. I miss that!
 

Montana Adult-Use Sales Top $43 Million For First Quarter of Year​

Recreational cannabis is generating big revenue in Big Sky Country, producing over $43 million in sales.

Three months in, the new adult-use cannabis program in Montana has generated tens of millions of dollars in sales, netting $8.7 million in tax revenue.

That comes via the state’s Department of Revenue, which detailed recreational pot sales in the state for the first quarter of the year.

In total, the adult-use market that launched at the start of the year has produced $43,537,110.29 in sales. For comparison, the state’s medical cannabis program generated $29,373,731.81 worth of sales during the same time period.

Montana voters legalized recreational cannabis for adults during the 2020 election, one of four states to end pot prohibition on the ballot that year (Arizona, South Dakota and New Jersey were the other three).

Getting the program ready in time for the start of this year was tight.

Officials in the state didn’t propose their final rules to govern the new regulated cannabis marketplace until October, leaving the Department of Revenue very little time to iron out all the regulations.

“The deadlines are aggressive,” Kristan Barbour, administrator of the Department of Revenue’s Cannabis Control Division, said at the time. “Really, the rules are our biggest challenge.”

“Our focus was really to be business-friendly and to try to work with the industry in a fashion that makes the rules adaptable to their current business structure and that they’ll be able to evolve into without a whole lot of pain,” Barbour added.

But despite the time constraints, the regulated cannabis market was open for business as scheduled on New Year’s Day.

Local television station KTVH reported that an “estimated 380 dispensaries in 29 counties are now able to sell marijuana to both medical and recreational customers.” In the program’s opening weekend at the beginning of January, Montana reported more than $1.5 million in cannabis sales.

The legalization effort in the United States has been buoyed by the economic incentives of regulating sales of pot. A report issued this week by the Marijuana Policy Project drove that point home, revealing that states that legalized adult-use cannabis sales generated more than $3.7 billion in total revenue last year.

That figure represented a 34% uptick from 2020, when states with recreational pot sales generated $2,766,027,570 in revenue. Since 2014, states have generated $11.2 billion in tax revenue from adult-use cannabis sales, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

“The legalization and regulation of cannabis for adults has generated billions of dollars in tax revenue, funded important services and programs at the state level, and created thousands of jobs across the country. Meanwhile, the states that lag behind continue to waste government resources on enforcing archaic cannabis laws that harm far too many Americans,” said Toi Hutchinson, the president and CEO of the Marijuana Policy Project, who said that the group’s findings serve as “further evidence that ending cannabis prohibition offers tremendous financial benefits for state governments.”

Legalization isn’t just about the money brought in, of course. States that have ended prohibition on pot have also sought to remedy the past injustices brought on by the War on Drugs.

Last month, the Montana Supreme Court issued temporary rules for procedures through which individuals may have past cannabis-related convictions expunged from their records.

The state’s new cannabis law says “anyone convicted of an offense that would now be legal in the state can petition to have their conviction removed from their record, get a lesser sentence for it or reclassify it to a lesser offense,” according to local television station KPAX.

In the rules laid out last month, the state Supreme Court made it clear that they may submit their request for expungement to the court where they were originally sentenced.
 
Ah yeah, they are trying to screw the native tribes yet again. sigh


Politics​

Montana Officials Restrict Tribal Marijuana Cultivation To Smallest License Tier​

During the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers included a provision in House Bill 701—the state’s framework marijuana legalization bill—that allocates a single automatic license to each of Montana’s tribal nations to both grow and sell marijuana. The facilities cannot be located on reservation land, and grow and sell operations must be located at the same place.

After the session, the Economic Affairs Interim Committee confirmed with the Department of Revenue that even though the bill defines these combined-use licenses as tier 1, the smallest grow size (a maximum of 1,000 square feet of grow space), they could scale up over time, just like any conventional cultivation license.

But on June 2, Brendan Beatty, director of the Department of Revenue, sent a letter to the Economic Affairs Interim Committee insisting that tribal cultivation operations cannot expand beyond tier 1 licenses.

Some lawmakers argue that the limitation reduces tribes’ ability to succeed in the industry, and disincentivizes them from participating in it.

“During the last legislative session, a lot of the tribes and the legislators saw this as an opportunity, finally, for the tribes to get in on equal footing on the ground floor of the marijuana industry, and start bringing in additional revenue for themselves,” said state Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe. Small pushed for the automatic combined-use licenses during the legislative session, and has additionally provided input to other Northern Cheyenne tribal members who have considered acquiring a license.

“Unfortunately, it seems the Department of Revenue has been trying to hamstring our efforts,” he said.

No tribe has yet applied for a license. Small argues that ongoing concerns over tier 1 restrictions have played a role.

“I’ve had conversations with a couple of different tribes that say, ‘Why even bother if they’re handicapping us here?’”

WHAT HB 701 SAYS​

The dispute arises from language in House Bill 701 that says “a combined-use marijuana license consists of one tier 1 canopy license and one dispensary license allowing for the operation of a dispensary.”

Beatty’s letter cites that language to justify restricting the tribes’ combined-use licenses to tier 1.

“Regardless of this committee’s stated desire to allow combined use licensees to increase beyond a tier one, the statute is clear and unambiguous and limits a combined use licensee to a single tier one canopy license,” he writes. But lawmakers including state Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, argue that was never the intention of the bill.

“Obviously tier 1 is the entry point, not the ceiling,” said Morigeau, who pushed for the licenses, and as a member of the Economic Affairs Interim Committee worked with the Department of Revenue to clarify HB 701 after the session ended. “Among Democrats and Republicans alike on the committee, we’ve agreed that’s not what the bill language says and [the restriction to tier 1] is not what we wanted.”

Morigeau cites an administrative rule, written after HB 701’s passage, that he believes clarifies lawmakers’ intent regarding tribal combined-use licenses. The rule says such licenses “are subject to the marijuana laws” that dictate all other licenses in the state.

“The rule anticipated what the Legislature wanted. The Economic Affairs Interim Committee has been very clear about it,” Morigeau told Montana Free Press.

During an economic affairs committee meeting in April, Kristan Barbour, administrator of the department’s Cannabis Control Division, acknowledged the committee’s request to ensure that tribal licenses can scale up over time.

“We’ve been given direction by this body that you would like to treat this license like other licenses,” she said at the time.

Beatty’s letter counters Barbour’s position. “Ms. Barbour’s testimony attempted to navigate what she understands this committee would like to see happen with combined use licensees, versus what is codified in statute,” he writes. “During her testimony, Ms. Barbour may have mistakenly led this [committee] to believe that combined use licensees” operate like any other license.

The Department of Revenue has forwarded MTFP’s request for comment to Beatty, who has not responded by press time Monday morning.

The restrictions put forward by Beatty have a limited impact. Once the state’s moratorium on new licenses ends on July 1, 2023, Native Montanans will be able to apply for licenses just like anyone else. Those new licenses will not be bound to any such restrictions.

The Economic Affairs Interim Committee will meet again this week, on June 14 and 15. Multiple committee members told MTFP they will likely discuss the issue there.
 

Montana Governor Pushes To Shift Marijuana Revenue Away From Environmental Conservation And Toward Police​


“This bill is the quintessential ‘big government knows better than Montana voters’ bill.”

By Blair Miller, Daily Montanan

The governor’s office is behind a bill heard in a House committee Thursday that aims to reduce the amount of money going toward the Habitat Montana conservation program by eliminating an estimated $8 million to $9 million annually in marijuana revenue and putting it toward police, prosecutors and correctional officers.

The sponsor of House Bill 462, Rep. Marta Bertoglio, R-Clancy, said she had not consulted any conservation groups about the diversion of funds, but had heard from many in opposition to the bill in the leadup to its initial hearing in the House Appropriations Committee.


When she was asked by Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter, D-Billings, if she was open to amending the bill so it did not fully cut funding to any one category, she said she was “simply carrying” the bill and would have to consult with the governor’s budget office.

Ryan Evans, the governor’s assistant budget director, told the committee the bill was aimed at boosting funds for public security, public safety and public health and opened the hearing by trying to preempt testimony from the opposition about the historic surplus.

“Don’t be fooled by that. Remember that surplus money is [one-time only] funds,” he said. “[I’m] not saying that public resources isn’t a priority. That said, if an investment in one-time resources in that area is wanted, we’ll certainly entertain that in another bill. But not this bill.”


Evans told lawmakers during questioning that during the office’s budgeting process, it had looked to put money toward Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s request to cut income taxes.

“We tried to use any ongoing revenue flow to help cut individual income taxes, point blank. So that’s where a lot of this went,” he said.

Opponents said they felt the bill was putting conservation and outdoors enthusiasts in an untenable spot. They said they agreed that police, mental health and other public safety departments needed government support and funding, but questioned why the bill and the governor’s office was targeting Habitat Montana specifically when there was plenty of other money in the General Fund and the $2.5 billion surplus.


“I find myself asking—why are we pitting two good things against each other?” said opponent Joanne Gores. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

The Anaconda Sportsmen Club’s Chris Marchion, an inductee to the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame, said he found it offensive that he had to come to the legislature so often during the 35 years the program has been in place to try to defend what he called one of the “model programs for habitat in the nation” when he saw the same issues surrounding public safety funding last session and others past.

“When the 2021 legislature left, none of those programs were funded, but there was enough funding for a tax decrease. Montana has the fairest tax system in the country; that’s been that way for 10 years,” he said. “But we gave a tax decrease to the wealthiest people in the state of Montana instead of funding these programs.”


The Habitat Montana program was put into law by the legislature in 1987 as a wildlife habitat conservation and recreation effort. The funding is used to acquire land—often by working with landowners who request a partnership for easements and leases—to expand and create wildlife management areas to protect forests, grasslands and wildlife.

Around 92 percent of its funding—aside from the marijuana tax money—comes from licenses bought by hunters from out of state. In total, the hunting license sales bring in around $12 million for the program every biennium, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Deputy Director Dustin Temple, an informational witness, told the committee.

Bertoglio’s bill would make a host of changes to how Montana’s marijuana tax revenue is distributed, including the 20 percent now dedicated to the Habitat Montana program.

First, it would create two new accounts, one for funding of correctional officers and another for a distribution account that could be used to add Montana highway patrol officers, fight human trafficking and drugs, and assist county prosecutors with investigations.

More important to the bill, according to those who testified and the lawmakers who asked questions in the nearly three-hour hearing, is the changes it makes to how the funds are currently distributed under law passed in 2021.

Currently, the first $6 million in marijuana revenue goes to the Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment (HEART) account. The bill would change that to 11 percent of the tax revenue.


The bill would eliminate the 20 percent of the revenue that currently goes to Habitat Montana and redistribute it to both new and existing accounts and programs.

Under the bill, 6 percent of the total funding would go to the account that would fund MHP and other law enforcement and prosecutors. The bill would increase funding for the veterans and surviving spouses special revenue account from $200,000 currently to 5 percent of the revenue.

It would also provide 1.5 percent of the revenue, respectively, to the new account for hiring and retaining corrections officers and another for treatment court support. And it would change the formula for crisis intervention team training funding.

A fiscal note from the governor’s budget office released shortly before the start of the hearing on the bill details how the bill would change current funding distributions once the Habitat Montana money was reallocated.

Montana is projected to receive around $53 million in marijuana tax revenue in FY2024, which starts in July, and about $2 million more each fiscal year into FY2027.

The HEART Fund would actually receive a few hundred thousand dollars less under the proposed funding formula for each of the next four fiscal years, according to the analysis, though Bertoglio said in committee the formula would lead to an increase.

The Department of Justice would see around $3 million more annually, while the 12 percent of funding that currently goes to FWP state parks, trails and recreation efforts would see an increase of about $240,000.


The veterans account would see a little more than $2 million more each year—up from just $200,000 annually—while the crime control portion would see around $50,000 less each year for an allocation of around $100,000.

The accounts for correctional officer hiring and retention would see a boost of about $700,000 each year, while the General Fund would receive another $1.5 million to $2 million each fiscal year for the next four, according to the analysis.

Temple said FWP uses the program to leverage more federal and other dollars to complete acquisition projects, often at a one-to-three rate. But he told Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, that FWP believes it could meet its land-lease acreage goal if the funding from marijuana tax revenue is cut. Temple said the general license account currently sits at $93 million.

He and other opponents noted how the money is allocated to projects that often aren’t completed for at least 12-to-18 months, and sometimes longer.

Nearly three-quarters of the people who testified in favor of the bill were officials with the governor’s budget office, Department of Justice, Montana Highway Patrol, Department of Corrections and Department of Public Health and Human Services. Others included representatives for veterans and behavioral and mental health groups.

They said they needed more police officers to monitor an increase in drug activity in the state, more attorneys who could work on Supreme Court appeals and as specialists to help county attorneys in rural Montana, a boost in hiring and retaining corrections officers at depleted prisons, more employees to increase training for police officers and troopers and better support for veterans.

Many proponents said adding a few staff members or a few dollars in each category would provide them with much-needed help after being overburdened and underpowered while dealing with an increased caseload.

“We are a bureau that has nine permanent [full-time employees]. We’re literally drowning and could not keep up,” said Tammy Plubell, the DOJ’s appellate services bureau chief.

Montana Highway Patrol Col. Steve Lavin said the department wanted to hire five new troopers because of a “dramatic increase” in drugs—pointing to what he said was a ten-fold rise in seizures of fentanyl pills last year and associated violence.


Bryan Lockerby, the administrator of the division of criminal investigation at the DOJ, said Montana was seeing cartel activity and that law enforcement was “outmanned, outgunned and outresourced.”

“We face an unprecedented threat, the likes of which I have never seen in my 40-year career in law enforcement,” he said.

Proponents and opponents were each given 45 minutes for testimony. Once the time of those in favor ran out, Montana Highway Patrol brought in a K-9 officer to find drugs the agency had planted on someone as a “show-and-tell,” as a lawmaker said.

Many of the opponents said they believed the legislature was trying to undo the will of Montana voters, who in 2020 approved marijuana legalization 57 percent to 43 percent. Some people who testified said they believed some Montanans voted in favor of the legalization measure because the ballot language mentioned revenue allocation to conservation efforts.

“We’ve elected you guys to stand up to this idea of big government. And this bill is the quintessential ‘big government knows better than Montana voters’ bill,” said Mike Mershon.

Missoula County Commissioner Josh Slotnick said the county opposed the measure and said it was creating a conflict between issues that was “entirely manufactured.”

“We can do both and we should do both,” he said.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsored by
VGoodiez 420EDC
Back
Top