Medical marijuana bill faces crucial vote Tuesday

By SHANDA BRADSHAW

Community News Service

UM School of Journalism

The Montana Senate voted 25-24 Saturday to increase the amount of medical marijuana a patient can legally possess and expand the list of debilitating conditions that marijuana could be prescribled to treat.

Senate Bill 326, sponsored by Sen. Ron Erickson, D-Missoula (pictured), is scheduled to face a final Senate vote Tuesday.

"There are a great many people out there in pain, and medical marijuana would definitely help them," Erickson said Saturday.

The bill would amend current law to include illnesses such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and post-traumatic stress disorder on the list of illnesses for which medical marijuana could be prescribed.

Erickson said that change is one of the bill's two main goals.

"Number one is to increase access and supply for those people with prescriptions," Erickson said. "Number two is to expand the law to include new diseases and help the people that need it."

Erickson said the bill's opponents were most apprehensive about a section in the bill that aims to protect patients or caregivers that legally possesses medical marijuana from losing their job or being evicted from a rental home solely because of their marijuana possession.

"I told opponents at the hearing that I'm willing to amend this section of the bill when it gets to the House ," Erickson said. "So I think this is no longer a concern, and I expect the bill to pass."

SB 326 would also allow patients to get marijuana from more than one licensed caregiver, which could help patients find the supplies they need.

In addition to increasing the amount a patient can legally possess, the bill would also allow licensed growers to have six mature, budding plants and eight immature plants.