Pompo

Medicinal pot backer calls for clearer laws
8/22/08|Billings Gazette| by Zach Benoit - The Gazette Staff



Tom Daubert, founder of Patients and Families Unite, said Thursday that imperfections in state medical marijuana laws need to be addressed in upcoming legislative sessions.

Daubert spoke at a public meeting Thursday.

In November 2004, 63 percent of Montana voters approved the Montana Medical Marijuana Act, of which Daubert is co-author. The law allows some patients - with a written recommendation from a medical doctor - to use marijuana as medicine to relieve suffering from diseases such as cancer, HIV and glaucoma or from conditions such as chronic pain and severe nausea.

At the meeting at the Yellowstone County Council on Aging, Daubert told about 30 people in attendance that gray areas in current laws need to be clarified.

Patients or their caregivers are allowed to possess up to six marijuana plants or an ounce of marijuana, but Daubert said that is a small amount for many patients - about one week's worth - and pointed to other prescription medicines where patients often have a supply for one month or more.

"The 1-ounce limit is just too low," he said.

He also pointed to the other 11 states, specifically Oregon and Washington, that have legalized medical marijuana. In those two states, Daubert said, the limit is up to 24 ounces, or about a two-month supply, although he doesn't think he'll push for amounts that large in Montana.

The definition of the six plants allowed is too vague, he said. The law does not specify whether it means live marijuana plants, includes harvested plants or is just six total.

About 1,080 people in Montana are registered with the state health department to use medical marijuana. The process gives patients and caregivers a card they can carry as proof of their registration with the state and helps clear up legal issues if they are caught in possession of marijuana.

"But there are a lot of registered patients in rural areas who don't deal with doctors, they deal with physician's assistants and medical practitioners," he said. "They sometimes have to drive hundreds of miles to see a doctor."

Some of those practitioners should also be allowed to sign off on prescriptions, he said.

He used the example of a woman in rural Eastern Montana suffering from multiple sclerosis. Daubert said the woman has to travel about 100 miles to meet with her caregiver to obtain medical marijuana.

Recently, she has been unable to make the trip because of her condition and has her mother make the trip for her. But her mother is not registered with the state as a patient or caregiver and is breaking the law to help her daughter.

"I would propose another class of registration to transport it," he said.

One of the main goals of Patients and Families Unite, a statewide support group for medical marijuana patients, is to educate doctors on state laws on and usage of medical marijuana.

"There's truly a voluminous amount of research and documentation of the medical benefits of marijuana," Daubert said.

GREENFOODGAMES

Jese to smoke 1 ounce a week that seems like kinda lot, I smoke about 1/2 ounce a week and am cool with that but I guess that is with working too, but 6 plants will harvest more than 1 ounce as well so they definatly need to rewrite the books on there medical mj rules.

Pompo

Many MMJ users ingest thier medicine as apposed to smoking it, which requires considerably more weed. 1 oz is no where near enough for those who medicate in such a manner

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GREENFOODGAMES

I did not know that Pompo, I was under the impression they smoked it like me - I learned something new today

MMJNoob

Start cooking! You are after all greenFOODgames. Healthiest way to go for sure. Sure does take quite a bit more, especially cooking in bulk. I like to get pre-made teas and chocolate from my caregiver, baked by his experienced 'chef.'

Victor_vicious

I am really confused, this guy is the co-author of the law? And it's that poorly written? What am I miossing here? VV

GREENFOODGAMES

I have done brownies before but thats it,and it did take quite a more than smoking it so I can see how they go through a ounce a week easy, and the GREENFOODGAMES thing goes like this
GREEN then FOOD then GAMES like a timeline thats how it happens for me

Buzzby

The bill Daubert wrote and the bill passed by the Montana legislature are not likely to be all that similar. In order to get a law passed, legislators often have to compromise with opponents by modifying the original concept.

In the case of medical marijuana laws, it often comes down to haggling about how much patients and caregivers are allowed to possess at any one time. They're concerned with medical marijuana being diverted to the recreational market. The thought is that if medical marijuana patients are allowed to possess considerable weight it could be used as a cover for dealing.

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GREENFOODGAMES

You know let these people have there meds and if they are caught dealing well tough for them lock'em up like everyone else, to limit these people is stupid I can go buy like 5 bottles of asprin right now as I type this which is perfectly legal but if I take them all that well lets put it this way I wont have anymore headaches now will I.Medical marijuana is a privelage and if they screw it up well so be it it's on them but to tell them they can't have enough well thats just fucked up either it should be legal or not - not almost, like saying let me rip 5 teeth out of you're mouth and here take a ASPRIN, just my humble opinion- not dissing you Buzzby just using you're post I know thats the reason but you said it first

Buzzby

That's the problem. If you have a medical marijuana recommendation, you're not like everyone else. You are privileged to possess and transport marijuana.

If you don't have a recommendation, you're stopped by a cop, and are found to have three pounds of weed in your car, you'll get busted for possession with intent to distribute. If you've got a medical marijuana recommendation and there's no limit on quantity, the cop would have to let you go. That would enable dealers to move around with impunity and only risk arrest if they're caught in the act of dealing.

Legislators don't want to make life easy for drug dealers, so they want to restrict the amount of weed a medical marijuana patient can have at any one time. As long as marijuana remains illegal without a doctor's recommendation, that makes perfect sense.