The HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup Returns to the Bay Area

HIGH TIMES is heading back to the Bay Area for the third year in a row! The HT Medical Cannabis Cup …

Fri May 18, 2012 more videos 0

sponsored links
high times presents


Making A Mess in Montana

Thu, Apr 14, 2011 1:33 pm

Share |


-

Montana legalized medicinal cannabis in 2004 when a healthy 62 percent of voters passed the Montana Medical Marijuana Act. But during the neo-con Bush years, less than 7,000 patients registered to use medicinal cannabis. All that changed in October 2009 when the (in)famous “Ogden Memo” was issued by US Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, which stated patients and caregivers/dispensaries abiding by state law wouldn’t be federal targets. Montana pot patients quickly catapulted to over 28,000 by early 2011. (The irony is that the Ogden Memo has no legal value in court because it didn’t alter federal law.)

 

The number of Montana marijuana patients had the strong conservative element in state government suddenly decide that medi-pot had to be criminalized or severely restricted. In January, the Republican sponsored House Bill (HB) 161, designed to repeal Initiative 148. After passing the House, a 6-6 deadlock stalled it in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer, who supports medical marijuana policy reform, not an outright repeal, wouldn’t sign HB 161 anyway. 

 

Three members of that Judiciary Committee crafted Senate Bill (SB) 423, a “repeal and reform” bill, replacing Initiative 148 with a new system with stricter regulations and licensing requirement. SB 423 passed the Senate but is stuck in committee in the House and could die there. SB 423 has been criticized as being unfair to pot patients, requiring them to visit their doctor four times in six months and then pay for a second recommendation from a pain specialist. 

 

House Bill 175 would send the issue back where it started – the ballot. In November 2012 voters can decide whether to repeal or retain the medical marijuana law established at the end of this current legislative session. Passed by the House, HB 175 has yet to be heard by the Senate.

 

The Feds barged into the picture on Tuesday, March 15 when agents from the DEA and FBI among others executed 26 search warrants at medical marijuana dispensaries and grow sites (encompassing seven businesses), conducted as part of an 18-month investigation that targeted both dispensaries and cultivating caregivers in 13 cities. Statewide protests were held on March 16 from Billings to Butte.

 

The Feds’ justification for the raids stemmed partly from legal medical marijuana caregivers doing business with other caregivers. Interestingly, the raids were conducted six weeks after the release of the US Department of Justice’s “Haag Memo” (by US Attorney Melinda Haag). The Haag Memo seeks to clarify the Ogden Memo by emphasizing the federal position that all marijuana is illegal, and a core priority of the department is to disrupt and prosecute marijuana commerce “even if such activities are permitted under state law.” 

 

In early April, the Montana Medical Growers Association and private parties filed a complaint in Flathead County District Court with the intention of having a judge consider medi-pot transaction between caregivers as legal. Such a ruling would prevent caregivers from facing prosecution. For now, Montana medi-pot patients can exhale – while waiting to find out if they can still legally inhale for much longer.



» add a comment

GW420POUT

Apr 27 2011, 5:09 am

It cost us around forty thousand dollers a year to house a inmate in a correctional facility.Help pass a law to set none violant drug inmates free.And save a bunch of money that we already owe for. P.O.W PRISONERS OF WEED SET THEM FREE. Be safe out there brothers and sisters

GW420POUT

Apr 27 2011, 4:57 am

We all messed up when Gorege W Bush cheated on election of presidant.The whole country should have stood up together and faced the problem.By haveing major protest at each one of our state capital buildings demanding the correct votes be cast over again.
whats the deal with the very Evil federal government to not reconize we the people vote to legalize Medical .marijuana ,Vote yes.It passes into LAW,and the we don't reconize it nor will the tolorate it.Stand up America

texasguy

Apr 25 2011, 5:10 am

One more thing, the average american is to wrapped up in his or her day to day life to even notice what the feds are doing.And when the feds say that cannabis is bad and that pills are better for you a very large percent of americans believe it to be the gospel.We as a nation have been brain washed into thinking that the federal government actually cares about us. Thats why its so easy for them to change the laws of this country in a moments notice, because no one thinks they would use it against them.. And we are not free men and women, when they put the(Patroit Act) into effect we all lost our freedom. Why you ask would that take your freedom because it gives them the right to hold you or me or anyone else for as long as they want to, and you dont have a say about any thing.They dont have to let you talk to a lawyer at all. You are a prisoner, at there mercy, and they can do what ever they want to do with you.. Yeah think about that people. And why would the DEA or the ATF want cannabis to be legal, that would cost them there jobs.No illegal drugs no jobs...They are going to try to keep it illegal just to keep there job. We are supposed to be the most advanced country in the world, Thats a BIG JOKE.. Were not any where close to being the most advanced at anything EXCEPT IN WAYS TO MAKE WAR ON OTHER COUNTRIES !! The CIA is the biggest drug cartel in the world. They bring tons of them into this country every year to finance there illegal activites around the world... And thats a fact, There plane crashed in Mexico a few months back with 4 tons of cocain on it !!!WTF is that shit... Check for yourselfs, you want like what you find.....!!!!Watch your back people..

texasguy

Apr 25 2011, 4:22 am

May I suggest that if you really want to know why hemp farming is illegal in our country, there is a artical you should read. It's at www.420magazine.com. For those of you that really want to know check it out. And you will see that with the right help anyone that has BIG MONEY can do just about anything they want.There is to much BIG MONEY at risk for it to be legal. And think about this, the federal government does not care about you, me or anyone else. We are numbers and that all, and the numbers add up to money in there pockets..If they cared about us as a people then why have they made deals with all the big drug companies. They even let them put drugs out to the public that they know will kill people. But by the time its proved they have made billions of dollars on it.Go ahead and sue them they dont mind , your not going to get enough to hurt them . One more thing for you to think about. The herb that we all love and cherish was put here to help us. Its the only plant on this planet that you can look at and tell if its a male or female, why is that if it wasnt meant for us to know??? Check it out yourself, see if you can find 1 more plant out there on this earth, that you can tell the sex of it just by looking at it!!!!

HU210

Apr 24 2011, 11:03 pm

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/20/big-pharma-set-to-take-over-medical-marijuana-market/

Republic

Apr 19 2011, 5:34 pm

Your vote only counted to get the guy in office, who ever it is, it does not really matter. The person who got elected is on the way to becoming a millionaire, if not already one. They are not in the social security system, federal workers have their own. Check it out for yourself, all true.

So when they vote to extend the age limit to 69 for Social Security, they vote about your future, not their own. They still retire at 65.
When Social Security gets cut, only for you once again, the millionaires still get theirs out of their private stash.
When your Medical is voted down, They still have medical coverage, good medical coverage.
When you dip into your 401k and pay that heavy early removal penalty to buy food, Not them, they still have a 401k, a very good one.

And who pays for it all, you do. Why? Because you are a dumb ass. Vote the current assholes out and get some new life into the system. 98% of the current problem need to go. Save Ron Paul and his kid, save a couple others, the rest can go.

Here is a question. Could a regular guy come out of nowhere and become President. If a regular Joe was to in earnest say he would go to Washington and fight for Social Security, lower military spending by 20%, end all current wars and use the money to research alternate fuels, raise taxes on the rich, end all tax cuts for companies and assure GE type companies pay taxes, secure the boarders, repair the infrastructure And decimalize weed-$100 for less then a pound – 100 plant limit.

Would you vote for that guy?

And why do people think millionaires will ever vote to tax themselves.

Ugh

Apr 19 2011, 1:02 am

I live in Montana(from Kalispell and Missoula) and I will say this place is behind the times. These politicians are water-headed fools... This law is just ridiculous. A failing economy, record unemployment and suicide rates in Montana and their top priority is medical Marijuana? A right that was voted in by The People!!! Totalitarian government in action...

LFODT

Apr 18 2011, 10:33 am

SPREAD THE SEEDS OF LOVE EVERYWHERE.

umm

Apr 17 2011, 6:08 pm

As I see it, we as a society need to get serious and ask ourselves if we want to continue with traditional intolerance for some drugs when that behavior creates more harm than good cause it takes away freedoms, causes wars large and small, breaks up families, and people who are forced to not use pot by the courts feel forced to do other "drugs" just to achieve some relief to their day to day lives,
and that sometimes further gets them tangled with the law, and that is an unneeded drain to society materially, spiritually, and morally, when we shouldn't be sticking our noses in our neighbors business anyway, and that isn't fair for them to have to use something that isn't good for them maybe, depending on what they do of course, but it should be their choice in a free society anyway ideally, and if the ideal world is what everyone is after, then that ideal should be our compass; then I see nothing wrong with my senitimentsal babble:)

People get sad, and the plant is here to help us achieve happiness and love through the heavenly creator that mysterious thing called love - in my opinion, so whatever is decided for future "policy" or present, I sure hope they use common sense.

gstlab3

Apr 17 2011, 5:05 pm

HERE'S MY SPIN ON THINGS AS THEY STAND IN ALL THESE MEDICAL POT STATES.,

THE PEOPLE VOTED., THE LAWS WERE LEGALLY CHANGED FOR A SHORT TIME UNTILL THE LAWYERS GOT THE MASSIVE AND UNSTOPPABLE PAPERWORK DONE.

BEST EXAMPLES ARE WASHINGTON D.C AND NEW YORK STATE.
THE PAPERS ARE CALLED BY WIERD NAMES LIKE STAYS AND APPEALS AND OR INJUNCTIONS.,
ALL OF THEM ARE USED AGAINST IMPLEMENTING THE NEWLY VOTED IN LAWS.

THE LAWYERS ARE THE WEAPON OF CHOICE USED BY THE MASSIVE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE ONES WHO HAVE THE FINANCIAL MEANS TO GO TO WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE IN THE COURTS OF LAW.,
USUALLY IT'S THE STATE SUPREME COURTS WHO SUFFER THE BURDEN OF THESE CRIMINAL LAWYERS WHO GO TO WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE.

YOUR VOTES ARE MEANINGLESS TO THESE LAWYERS WHO WORK IN STRICT CONCERT WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THE ATF AND DEA GOONS AND THEIR TEAM OF LOBBYISTS IN WASHINGTON D.C..,

WAKE UP!!!!!

YOUR ARE BEING LIED TO.

THE VOTES YOU AMERICANS CAST ARE A SHAM., AN INVENTED SHOW LIKE ON A SATURDAY CARTOON WICH IS MEANINGLESS IN ITS EFFECT IN THE REAL WORLD THAT ADULTS HAVE TO LIVE IN.

TO WHO AND WHERE DOES ALL THIS EFFORT AND THE MONEY GO FROM AND TO THAT IS USED TO FIGHT IN STATE SUPREME COURTS AGAINST THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR LEGALIZING MARIJUANA??

WHO IS BEHIND THE EFFORTS TO SABOTAGE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THEIR VOTES?

IS IT THE BANKS AND BIG PHARMA AND THE VERY DANGEROUS AND EVIL COMMUNIST INFILTRAITORS IN OUR GOVERNMENT WHO NOW CONTROL IT??

YOU CAN BET YOUR ASS IT IS ALL 100% TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REMEMBER PEOPLE WHO CAN THINK FOR THEMSELVES AND ARE NOT AFFRAID TO STAND UP TO THE WRONGS OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE POWERS THAT BE ARE THE REAL REASONS WE ARE STILL FIGHTING THIS OUT!!!!!

LOSING TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OUT OF FEAR IN THE POT LEGAL STATES AND NOW IN THE FEDERAL ARENA OF LEGAL PAPER PUSHING WARS AND POWER OVER THE PEOPLES MINDS AND HEARTS IS NOT AN OPTION.

WHO ARE THEY?!?!?!?!?" WHO ARE THESE OVER PAID LAWYERS!???

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS NO CONSTITUTIONAL OR LEGAL AUTHORITY TO OPPOSE THE PEOPLE AND THEIR VOTES WHEN IT COMES TO MANY THINGS.,
ESPECAILLY NON INVASSIVE AND NON ADDICTIVE,
NON DANGEROUS DRUGS AND PLANTS!!!!!!!

MEDICAL SCIENCE AND MORALITY AND COMMON DECENCEY CANNOT BE IGNORED FOR THE SAKE OF THESE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ENGENIERING TYRANTS!!!!
ALL OF THIS CONTROL AND PUNTITIVE TAXATION ARE THE WISHES OF THE SUPER RICH AND THE SECRETE GOVERNMENT PLANS OF THE POWERFULL WHO WISH TO ENSLAVE US TO THEM EVEN MORE!!!

A VERY CHEAP AND FREELY GROWING PLANT AND AN EFFECTIVE MEDICINE AND ALSO A GATEWAY DRUG TO ENABLE REAL CRITICAL THINKING ABOUT THINGS IN A DIFFERANT WAY IS THE REAL THREAT WE POSE TO THE GOVERNMENT CONTROL PLANS FOR US.,

THE IRS ENDENTURED SLAVE WAGE WORKERS OF AMERICA MUST STAND UP AND RECOGNIZE THE AWEFULL POLICE STATE TYRANY WICH CONTINUALLY ROBS THEM OF THEIR HEALTH AND WELL BEING AND MOST OF ALL BASIC LIBERTY AND FREEDOMS!!!!!

LIKE YOUR RIGHT TO A VOTE AND TO BE HEARD FOR THE REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT IN A COURT OF LAW OR TO FREELY ASSEMBLE TO PROTEST IS STRICTLY REGULATED WITH FEES AND APPROVAL COMMITIES.

BASIC FREEDOM AND LIBERTY INCLUDES A VOTE THAT MATTERS!!!!

FUCK MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATION BY THE FED OR THE STATE!!!

IT IS A HEALTH ISSUE THAT HAS NO PLACE IN A COURT OF LAW OR A LAWYERS FUCKING BREIF CASE!!!!

THE SCIENTISTS, DOCTORS,MARIJUANA FARMERS AND THE PATIENTS ARE THE ONLY TRUE AUTHORITIES WE NEED TO CONSULT.

HOPE AND CHANGE VERSUS REAL AND TRUE VOTES AND REAL EFFECTIVE CHANGES ARE FAR FAR APART IN AMERICAN LIFE TODAY DO'NT YOU THINK???

WE ALL KNOW SOMETHING IS'NT RIGHT AND WHAT "IT" IS., REALLY SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF PEOPLE.
SO????
ALL WE SEEM TO DO IS "HOPE" FOR CHANGE., AND THAT'S ALL.
WE ARE CAPABLE OF WANTING "IT" "the government" TO CHANGE BUT WHAT ABOUT WE THE PEOPLE "DOING" SOMETHING ABOUT IT??

FACEBOOK??? MYSPACE OR WHATEVER THE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLET IS USED BY US IS AND WILL BE CAREFULLY WATCHED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POLICE GOONS IN THE ATF AND THE DEA FOR ANY ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE AGAINST THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OR STATES WHO IGNORE THE VOTERS.

WE ARE AT WAR OVER OUR MINDS AND HEARTS AND WHO CONTROLS THEM.

WHO CONTROLS YOUR HEART AND YOUR MIND??

IS IT YOU AND YOUR GOD OR IS IT A CAREFULLY LAID OUT SET OF LAWS AND LONG RANGE PLANS AND RULES THE GOVERNMENT GAVE YOU TO FOLLOW??

GROW YOUR OWN, FREE YOUR MIND, FREE THE PLANET!!!!!!!

anonymous

Apr 17 2011, 2:50 pm

http://sowhempeverywhere.wordpress.com

i don't like pushing, but sometimes things need a little force to get them rolling


http://www.facebook.com/pages/And-Sow-It-Everywhere/185775181469318


needs more input so please speak up

umm

Apr 16 2011, 9:56 am

love out to george noory andHazel Courteney on coast to coast last nite. She's right.Love is everything, amd for me,weed helps me achieve that.

I had many spiritual happenings in my own way:)

umm

Apr 15 2011, 4:09 pm

lol
I don't know if we as a society are ready to know the truth about people with strange looking finger nails.
I just don't know if we can take the tremendous shock to our antiquated systems. Nope, better keep hating on them and locking them up. Tradition.

umm

Apr 15 2011, 4:06 pm

I guess then that different airports have different procedures, cause there was no one putting their hands down anyone's pants at the one I went to.

LFODT

Apr 15 2011, 2:15 pm

The other day I saw video of a little girl like 4 years getting searched and the TSA stuck her hands in the little girls pants. WTF Are we really teaching children to let officials stick their hands in their pants? How could that go wrong?
I am glad you made it through. In some respect it is like lions and gazelles. A few get picked off but the heard makes it through.

LFODT

Apr 15 2011, 2:07 pm

Jail them all. It is wrong to different.

montana

Apr 15 2011, 1:47 pm

it is the republicans.

umm

Apr 15 2011, 1:20 pm

I wonder if the strange finger nailed folks are related to bigfooted folk? lol

I bet there must be a conspiracy a-foot lol

umm

Apr 15 2011, 1:18 pm

What topic will be discussed next?
People's finger nail sizes?

Oh the mysteries surrounding why some peoples finger nails look a little strange. Lets alienate all those with weird fingernails, and make them pay taxes punish and imprison them lol

underdog

Apr 15 2011, 1:11 pm

You'd think that the topic of Cannabis would be discussed all the time on Coast to Coast
Instead they speak of aliens ufos and ghosts

Is it all a b.s. coverup to hide the niftyness of cannabis
it sure isn't something that should be dismissed

umm

Apr 15 2011, 12:43 pm

to LFODT

I took a trip a few months ago, and surprisingly, they didn't do any of that touchy feely stuff with anyone. They did however check our baggage out, and we had to walk through something that sniffs us for Cannabis, and although I was a little stoned, the machine didn't mind it one bit. It sure made for a fun trip to 40,000 feet in the air. I don't know why the news always says that they touch out genitals, cause they didn't me. Thank god for that:)

MostHigh

Apr 15 2011, 11:10 am

Thanks Jack herer for cannabis freedom may the MOSTHIGH watch over you.IT was a honor.To have smoked with you brother,Travel well see u on the other side. FREE REV. EDDY LEPP FREE EDDY FREE EDDY

Republic

Apr 15 2011, 10:47 am

SOWHEMPEVERYWHERE@GMAIL.COM check your mail

Republic

Apr 15 2011, 10:00 am

Here is the link to face book. I have only been on FB once to view this page. I am new to it in other words.
LFODT-great job.
Guy who made the FB pages great job as well.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/And-Sow-It-Everywhere/185775181469318

I see it as And-Sow-It-Everywhere on FB with a web site of SOWHEMPEVERYWHERE.worldpress.com

Email SowHempEverywhere@gmail.com do not over run the mail box with bullshit-Semi official use only if you will.

Live free or Die trying- LFODT

Apr 15 2011, 9:20 am

Face book page is great. I encourage everyone to go over and take a look. It would be huge if we could get a million friends. Impossible you say, In a couple of days we went from a guy saying it could not be done to having a Face Book Page. Beyond that, our old dis-tractor has joined our ranks.
Common Sense I am talking to you. Fire up a fatty and put your resources to work. Validate your claim to fame and get some friends over to SOWHEMPEVERYWHERE.

Not the name I coined, but who cares, this is not about me, you or the other guy. It is about all of us. No room for fatheads, check your ego at the door. This is under way, as hard as it is to believe, this group of bloggers has gone further then ever before toward this goal.

If you were behind Plant it Earth you are now behind SOWHEMPEVERYWHERE

LFODT

Apr 15 2011, 8:12 am

I feel there is no intelligent argument against legal weed, people who feel they should mind my business are assholes from the start. I am unwilling to give up my freedom at any level about anything. I no longer fly on planes because I feel the government should not handle my nuts. Why do I mention the air plane thing? Because it is all related. The government is trying to desensitize society. Do you think your Grandpa would have let TSA squeeze his nuts? I doubt it. If we all refuse to fly until we are treated like adults TSA tactics will have to change. More people are busted for pot by TSA then any other thing. Just another ploy by the man.

The Face book page is a great move forward, I am going to check it now.

anonymous

Apr 15 2011, 4:20 am

well, guys, give me some guidance


please


this all counts on all of us, and i'm all ears right now


http://www.facebook.com/pages/And-Sow-It-Everywhere/185775181469318

anonymous

Apr 15 2011, 2:07 am

proofing that, a bit late, i read it originally that there are inelegant arguments against pot

on to life again

anonymous

Apr 15 2011, 2:04 am

i agree, it is tough to find an intelligent argument for criminalized pot (at first i read the spelling as inelegant, which works perfect too). According to a hemp industry group in cali trying to get hemp into farmers hands, an "authority" (some local sheriff or deputy or something) came to speak, and the judge actually had to silence him for the rest of it because he was interrupting to arguing against the valid points of the industry reps and wasn't actually making a point, just spewing what he'd heard from others

no name

Apr 15 2011, 12:12 am

I beleive this is very interesting,it shows a conflict in montana of reletivley little importance but is yet discussed and cycled through the state gov. I have yet to hear an intelegant arguement supporting criminalizind med. pot (or recreational for that matter). I cant imagine why there is a difference of opinion there,- If anyone has anything intelegent to say (that excludes you "umm" and "gstlab")

differential

Apr 14 2011, 10:52 pm

umm ur an idiot

umm

Apr 14 2011, 8:31 pm

In short, Montana chooses tradition over freedom.

umm

Apr 14 2011, 8:07 pm

Let me remind you folks of the article posted about Montana Fri, Jul 08, 2005 10:58 am entitled Montana Police Have to Stop One Vehicle an Hour:
http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/1906

Don't you see what is happening people?

Montana depends on their scare and hate the Cannabis laws to gain their money. If the people are able to achieve legality at any amount, the state will have to cut back in paying their dea people.

Montana depends on the people allowing them to maintain their tradition of hate and confiscation, and making enemies.

Maybe the dispensaries were doing something otherwise illegal. Lets wait to see what the whole story is, but it does look suspicious doesn't it.

Shame on Montana

Freedom420

Apr 14 2011, 7:51 pm

Start the GROW IMMEDIATELY.
>^< FTG!
Would be nice to see them go after real crooks like Bankers,Congress,but i guess you can't bust the hand that feeds you.

Mttender886

Apr 14 2011, 5:00 pm

Wow! What has happened in Montana has created a massive outcry from it's public. The people are not being represented!! This has become a war between state and federal with no regards to how the people are being affected. I know this personally because I worked in a shop that was located in Bozeman MT and was targeted by the Feds. This has destroyed many businesses and lives across Montana, this is utter nonsense!!! If the people want what helps them then who is to judge?! So what? Montanans do not want your every day pill care- they want natural care; something that ACTUALLY helps them with their pain. I am disgusted by how long this war must go on, and that the Feds still raid those states to just make a point.
Sincerely
Kaitlyn Loizeaux

drug war POW

Apr 14 2011, 2:21 pm

For years I have heard about the Phantom grow and how cool it would be to out grow the man. Now we have the same resources that freed Egypt and others, yet we do not organize behind it.
Now we have the start of something positive and we need to rally. We need to catch some momentum and Plant It.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, Throw something you have no use for on the ground to get something you want. Littering with a positive out come.
I agree with the guy who said the official date for plant it earth is 4/1 but why wait start today.

anonymous

Apr 14 2011, 2:16 pm

Republicans my fat white ass. No republican would infringe on the freedom of another. We need a new party to get behind, The party of the republic if you will. A party that really stands for personnel freedom. Short of that join Plant it Earth, The phantom grow.
Look around the site and see all the comments. After years of rumor it looks like it could go this time.
Spread the word to all who toke, THE GROW IS ON. Plant It Earth, the phantom grow.
The general idea is plant your seeds in areas of protest. This is not anything you plan to get back it is an act of civil disobedience. So plant it on public grounds not in the neighbors yard or other private property, no need to get friends arrested.
Official plant date 4/1/11 no real need to wait. So start today.

» add a comment

search

hightimes.com 420.com


headlines
sponsored links
seed center
headshop
HIGH TIMES headshop

more headshop products

Top pages on HIGH TIMES:
Friends of HIGH TIMES