Montanans upset with the 2011 Legislature’s strict overhaul of the state’s 2004 voter initiative legalizing the medical use of marijuana are attacking the measure on three fronts.
One of those involves a petition to put the new law on the ballot in November. As the Missoulian’s Capitol Bureau Chief Chuck Johnson explains, that move is off to a quick start:
In just a week, some 2,000 Montanans have signed petitions to let voters in 2012 decide the fate of the more restrictive medical marijuana law enacted this year, referendum backers said Tuesday.
A group called Patients for Reform – Not Repeal recently launched a statewide campaign seeking enough signatures to place Senate Bill 423 on the ballot next year. If it obtains an additional level of signatures by Sept. 30, the law will be suspended until voters can decide whether to retain or reject the statute.
Patients for Reform – Not Repeal is led by Rose Habib of Missoula.
The other two efforts involve a court challenge of the new law (District Court Judge James Reynolds has temporarily blocked parts of the law) and a move seeking a constitutional amendment to decriminalize marijuana.
Gwen Florio
The issue of legalizing marijauna needs to be put to bed once and for all, and not legalize it. I was a landlord to such a place, and it is nothing but a way for marajuana users to use it without being in jeporady of being arrested. Of all the people that would go in there through out the day, approximately 2% really needed it, if that. I know for a fact that some that went in there were working on production lines, and didn’t need it. Also, there were constitly being visited by the police. They didn’t pay there rent, bounced checks, stiffed a lot of suppliers, and the list goes on, like the IRS putting a liien on everything, and when I evicted them the place was trashed.
These are the facts about what is really going on.