Vetoed by Governor Brian Schweitzer

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to adopt a conference report that authorizes licensed individuals, businesses, and organizations to provide marijuana to individuals with medical conditions for therapeutic use, effective July 1, 2011.

Highlights:

• Authorizes the Department of Public Health and Human Services to issue registry identification cards for the use or provision of therapeutic marijuana to Montana residents who (Sec. 3):
• Have been diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition; or
• Have been named as providers of marijuana or marijuana-infused products by persons who obtain registry identification cards for their debilitating medical conditions.

• Limits the possession of marijuana by a registered cardholder to no more than 4 mature plants, 12 seedlings, and 1 ounce of usable marijuana (Sec. 10).

• Restricts eligibility for registry identification cards to individuals who have submitted certain items including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 4):
• Written certification and accompanying statements from the individual's physician;
• A statement pledging not to divert marijuana to anyone who is not allowed to possess marijuana; and
• Proof of Montana residency.

Requires that registered cardholders, providers, and marijuana-infused products providers keep their identification cards in their immediate possession at all times and display them, along with valid photo identification, upon demand of a law enforcement officer (Sec. 8).

• Requires health care facilities to perform the following, in the order listed, when a patient who is a registered cardholder has marijuana in his or her possession upon admission to the health care facility (Sec. 9):
• Require the patient to remove the marijuana from the premises, if he or she is able to do so, before being admitted;
• Contact the patient's provider or marijuana-infused products provider; or
• Contact the local law enforcement agency.

• Requires a law enforcement agency contacted by a health care facility to remove and destroy the marijuana (Sec. 9).

• Prohibits the use of therapeutic marijuana by any person, including a registered cardholder, in certain locations and situations including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 11):
• Health care facilities;
• Schools or postsecondary institutions;
• School buses or other forms of public transportation;
• Correctional facilities;
• -While in control of a motor vehicle, aircraft, or motorboat;
• In or on the property of a church, synagogue or other place of worship;
• Public parks, beaches, recreation centers or youth centers; or
• In plain view of the general public.

• Prohibits cardholders and licensed therapeutic marijuana growers from cultivating or manufacturing therapeutic marijuana in a manner that is visible from the street or other public area (Sec. 11).

• Specifies that this act does not require (Sec. 11):
• Government medical assistance programs, group benefit plans, or insurers to reimburse a person for costs associated with the use of marijuana by a registered cardholder;
• Employers to accommodate the use of marijuana by a registered cardholder;
• A school to allow a registered cardholder to participate in extracurricular activities; or
• A landlord to allow a tenant who is a registered cardholder, provider, or marijuana- infused products provider to use or cultivate marijuana.

• Prohibits physicians who provide written certifications from accepting or soliciting anything of value, including money, from a provider or marijuana-infused products provider (Sec. 12).

• Prohibits physicians from using telemedicine to obtain the information required for the written certification and accompanying statements used to apply for a registry identification card (Sec. 25).

• Prohibits individuals with valid registry identification cards from advertising marijuana in any medium, including electronic media (Sec. 20).

• This act is effective July 1, 2011 (Sec. 40).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to adopt a conference report that authorizes licensed individuals, businesses, and organizations to provide marijuana to individuals with medical conditions for therapeutic use, effective July 1, 2011.

Highlights:

• Authorizes the Department of Public Health and Human Services to issue registry identification cards for the use or provision of therapeutic marijuana to Montana residents who (Sec. 3):
• Have been diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition; or
• Have been named as providers of marijuana or marijuana-infused products by persons who obtain registry identification cards for their debilitating medical conditions.

• Limits the possession of marijuana by a registered cardholder to no more than 4 mature plants, 12 seedlings, and 1 ounce of usable marijuana (Sec. 10).

• Restricts eligibility for registry identification cards to individuals who have submitted certain items including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 4):
• Written certification and accompanying statements from the individual's physician;
• A statement pledging not to divert marijuana to anyone who is not allowed to possess marijuana; and
• Proof of Montana residency.

• Requires that registered cardholders, providers, and marijuana-infused products providers keep their identification cards in their immediate possession at all times and display them, along with valid photo identification, upon demand of a law enforcement officer (Sec. 8).

• Requires health care facilities to perform the following, in the order listed, when a patient who is a registered cardholder has marijuana in his or her possession upon admission to the health care facility (Sec. 9):
• Require the patient to remove the marijuana from the premises, if he or she is able to do so, before being admitted;
• Contact the patient's provider or marijuana-infused products provider; or
• Contact the local law enforcement agency.

• Requires a law enforcement agency contacted by a health care facility to remove and destroy the marijuana (Sec. 9). -Prohibits the use of therapeutic marijuana by any person, including a registered cardholder, in certain locations and situations including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 11):
• Health care facilities;
• Schools or postsecondary institutions;
• School buses or other forms of public transportation;
• Correctional facilities;
• While in control of a motor vehicle, aircraft, or motorboat;
• In or on the property of a church, synagogue or other place of worship;
• Public parks, beaches, recreation centers or youth centers; or
• In plain view of the general public.

• Prohibits cardholders and licensed therapeutic marijuana growers from cultivating or manufacturing therapeutic marijuana in a manner that is visible from the street or other public area (Sec. 11).

• Specifies that this act does not require (Sec. 11):
• Government medical assistance programs, group benefit plans, or insurers to reimburse a person for costs associated with the use of marijuana by a registered cardholder;
• Employers to accommodate the use of marijuana by a registered cardholder;
• A school to allow a registered cardholder to participate in extracurricular activities; or
• A landlord to allow a tenant who is a registered cardholder, provider, or marijuana- infused products provider to use or cultivate marijuana.

• Prohibits physicians who provide written certifications from accepting or soliciting anything of value, including money, from a provider or marijuana-infused products provider (Sec. 12).

• Prohibits physicians from using telemedicine to obtain the information required for the written certification and accompanying statements used to apply for a registry identification card (Sec. 25).

• Prohibits individuals with valid registry identification cards from advertising marijuana in any medium, including electronic media (Sec. 20). 

• This act is effective July 1, 2011 (Sec. 40).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes licensed individuals, businesses, and organizations to provide marijuana to individuals with medical conditions for therapeutic use.

Highlights:

• Limits the possession of marijuana by a registered cardholder to no more than 4 mature plants, 12 seedlings, and 2 ounces of usable marijuana, whereas existing law authorized the possession of up to 8 ounces of usable marijuana (Secs. 9 & 60).

• Limits the amount of marijuana provided by a therapeutic marijuana grower to a registered cardholder to no more than 2 ounces of usable marijuana within a 30-day period (Sec. 9).

• Requires all users of therapeutic marijuana to obtain a registry identification card to be renewed annually (Sec. 4).

• Restricts eligibility for registry identification cards to individuals who have submitted certain items including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 4):
• Written certification that the person is a qualifying patient;
• Objective proof of the cause of chronic pain, if the patient's medical condition for which he or she is seeking therapeutic marijuana involves chronic pain;
• A statement pledging not to divert marijuana to anyone who is not allowed to possess marijuana; and
• Proof of Montana residency.

• Requires the Department of Health to revoke and not reissue the registry identification card of any person who is convicted of a drug offense or allows another person to be in possession of his or her registry identification card for any purpose (Sec. 6).

• Prohibits the use of therapeutic marijuana by any person, including a registered cardholder, in certain locations and situations including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 14):
• Health care facilities;
• Schools or post secondary institutions;
• School buses or other forms of public transportation;
• Correctional facilities;
• While in control of a motor vehicle, aircraft, or motorboat;
• Public parks, beaches, recreation centers or youth centers; or
• In plain view of the general public.

• Prohibits cardholders and licensed therapeutic marijuana growers from cultivating or manufacturing therapeutic marijuana in a manner that is visible from the street or other public area (Sec. 14).

• Specifies that the penalty for any registered cardholder who violates the terms of this act will be a fine of no more than $500 or imprisonment for no more than 6 months, whereas existing law specified that the fine would be no more than $10,000 and the prison term no more than 1 year (Sec. 6).

• Establishes an advisory board consisting of eight medical practitioners in the fields of neurology, pain management, medical oncology, psychiatry, family medicine or internal medicine, infectious disease, and ophthalmology whose duties include, but are not limited to the following (Sec. 3):
• Reviewing and, if necessary, recommending increases or decreases to the quantity of marijuana that therapeutic marijuana growers and registered cardholders may cultivate or manufacture;
• Reviewing debilitating medical conditions previously approved by the legislature to determine whether to recommend changes to the eligibility criteria for individuals applying under those conditions; and
• Recommending additional debilitating medical conditions for which the benefits of the use of therapeutic marijuana would likely outweigh the risks.

• Authorizes local governments to regulate therapeutic marijuana growth and use through the following methods (Sec. 8):
• Restrictions on the number and location of production facilities;
• Business licensing requirements;
• Building codes and standards; and
• The inspection of businesses to ensure compliance with any sanitary requirements.

• Authorizes any city or town to adopt an ordinance or resolution that prohibits the cultivation or manufacture of therapeutic marijuana (Sec. 8).

Full Bill Text