Last week, the City of Glendive passed a resolution ordering an immediate 12 month moratorium on medical marijuana care providers in the city limits. According to discussion during the meeting the ordinance committee brought the resolution to the city council under the advisement of the city attorney.
According to Mayor Jerry Jimison, some changes will be made at the recommendation of the city attorney to that resolution, turning the resolution into an ordinance with consequences.
As the resolution was put forth at the last Glendive City Council meeting, it was not written as an ordinance with the required multiple readings. Generally, ordinances receive a first reading, a second reading with a public hearing, and then a vote. A notice of public hearing was published on Wednesday stating on Tuesday, May 18th at 7:15pm during the the regular meeting of the Glendive City Council, a public hearing will be held on a proposed ordinance to impose a moratorium on the opening, operation, or licensing of any establishments that grow, sell or distribute medical marijuana, and directing the study of new proposed ordinances to regulate such establishments. As of press time, Mayor Jimison was waiting for ordinance language from city attorney Scott Herring and he indicated that language contained in the ordinance will include punitive consequences for breach of the city ordinance.
Glendive City Court Judge Carrie Burman said that at this time she has not had any cases appear before her for breach of the resolution passed by the city council last week and she did not know how she would proceed until she saw documents on such a case from the prosecutor because the resolution was not city ordinance with clear direction.
Meanwhile, care providers and patients in the Glendive city limits are worried.
Following passage of the resolution one care provider growing for two elderly patients immediately stopped providing medication. One patient considered suing the care provider because, by state law, they are only able to receive medication from that care provider until another one is identified and paperwork is completed with the state. The patient said that they do not drive when they are receiving medication and can not drive due to debilitating pain when they do not receive the medication and can not go far such as to Billings or Miles City to receive their medication. Medical Marijuana, which they have received for over a year has made it so that they can function and be part of their community. No medication means they are bedridden. “What do I do?” they asked.
They worked out a creative solution with their care provider. The plants were moved to their own home – they are elderly so there were no concerns about children in their home unlike some other patients – and the care provider is now essentially their gardener. That system works only because the care provider is a family friend and not in it for the business aspect. However, the care provider says that unlike growing a cactus or fern, the plants that are grown using hydroponics need attention every day checking temperatures, water levels, and other things which assure consistent product for the patient and having plants at multiple locations such as each patients home is not a practical long term solution. Additionally, plant harvest will likely be stunted from the moving process. The caregiver's only other option would have been to destroy the plants and deny the patients their legal medication.
Community members are worried too.
In part, although medical marijuana was passed in 2004, until now little community dialogue has occurred in eastern Montana.
One question that has arisen is in the amount a caregiver charges. The law says “A caregiver may receive reasonable
compensation for services provided to assist with a qualifying patient's medical use of marijuana.”
Patients reported paying between $150 to $380 per month for medical marijuana. Some community members in Glendive considered that high. However, most of those individuals also take other prescribed medications. Here is the average cost monthly for those common medications before insurance. Not all patients asked had insurance or health savings accounts.
Neurontin $928.91
Synthroid $58.97
Lantus Insulin $310.66
Ambien $469.37
The range of medical marijuana appeared to fall just in the center of costs of those medications.
Another issue for community members is whether those convicted of drug offenses may be a care provider. The law says no and states “The department may not issue a
registry identification card to a proposed caregiver who has previously been convicted of a felony drug offense.”
A third issue is what the caregivers are allowed to do if a plant produces more than a patient can use. The law says that selling to anyone else faces the same penalties as if the person was not a care provider and simply distributing illegal drugs.
Finally, patients who are able to find or tolerate transportation to care providers outside the Glendive city limits wanted to know how long they would have to wait for approval of a new care provider from the state.
The law says that the state has 15 days to approve an application and an additional 5 days to issue a card. Once that happens the new provider then can begin to grow for the patient and the patient is looking at a minimum of six to ten weeks before receiving any medication.
John Masterson, Executive Director for Montana Norml, the state's largest marijuana advocacy group said that the response to community concerns should be “to treat cannabis more like wine: adults only, licensed producers, licensed retailers, limited home production, and standards of potency and purity.”
Montana Norml does not have an in-house legal team, however they do offer a legal referral list both for patients and caregivers. That list can be found at http://mtnorml.org/lawyers.
The hearing before the Glendive City Council will be Tuesday, May 18 at 7:15pm.
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