Global Ganja Report

Gov. Brian Schweitzer on April 13 vetoed a bill that would have repealed Montana's medical marijuana law, calling it draconian and contrary to the will of the state voters who approved it in by 62% in 2004. "There were many people out there who said there is a medicine out there that is not currently legal," Schweitzer said at a veto ceremony in the governor's reception room at the Capitol.

Schweitzer's veto of House Bill 161, by House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, essentially kills the measure, which would have made Montana the first of the 15 states and the District of Columbia enacting medical marijuana laws to repeal it. Based on earlier House and Senate votes, it appears unlikely that HB161 can muster the two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override the governor's veto. (Billings Gazette, April 14)

Unfortunately, Montana's medicinal cannabis patients are not out of the woods yet. In recent weeks, lawmakers have gotten behind a separate effort, Senate Bill 423, to severely restrict existing patients’ access to cannabis. According to a summary of the measure in the Billings Gazette: "The latest version of SB423 seeks to greatly limit the number of people licensed to use medical marijuana, now at 28,300, with backers hoping to bring that number fewer than 2,000. SB423 first would repeal the current law and shut down medical pot growing and dispensing operations on July 1." (NORML blog, April 14)

Photo by the Mad Pothead