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Overflow crowd fills medical marijuana meeting

Scores of medical marijuana patients, providers and critics were among people who overflowed the Havre City Council chambers Tuesday night at the Council's Ordinance Committee about whether to ban or regulate medical marijuana storefront dispensaries.

The meeting was the third held by the Ordinance Committee about how to handle storefront dispensaries. For nearly two hours, people spoke about medical marijuana and the possible impact of allowing dispensaries.

"My wife is dying and the only relief we have had in the last three or four years from any medications at all is when she got a medical marijuana card," Rick Ervin said. "I am not saying it is the best thing for everybody, but, by golly, it sure did help her."

Council President Andrew Brekke, said when he opened the meeting that the meeting wasn't about the broader issue of medical marijuana, but whether the city should ban or regulate dispensaries.

He said the council was seeking public input and the committee would not be making any decisions at the meeting.

Brekke said that, unlike other types of business, the city currently has no rules in place about how to regulate dispensaries.

Havre is the largest city that has not either banned or in some fashion regulated dispensaries, Brekke said.

Brekke said that so far Bozeman, Missoula and Butte have opted to regulate storefront dispensaries within their limits. Helena, Great Falls, Billings, Belgrade, Kalispell, Belgrade and Glasgow have opted to ban them.

Debby Knudson, a licensed addiction counselor at Northern Montana Hospital, said she has concerns about dispensaries.

She said some of her clients have told her that they buy marijuana from cardholders, patients who are able to purchase marijuana under state law for certain medical condition, or from people who are not dispensary patients who are buying from the dispensary.

"And that becomes a problem," Knudson said.

Amber Randles, a medical marijuana cardholder, said she heard about the presence of dispensaries in town through word of mouth. She said she had passed them a couple times before she realized what they were.

"It's kind of nice to have a caregiver and dispensary if needed, so they don't have to drive two hours one way just to get their medication, especially with winter coming," Randles said.

She said the city should maybe place a limit on how many can be in the city, but they should at least allow the ones that have opened to stay open.

Dr. Marc Whitacre, a candidate for Havre City Council, said what good dispensaries do is outweighed by the bad.

"The opportunities these stores represent for their legitimate clients are perhaps good, but the opportunities for diversion to the general community are huge and the incentives are huge," he said.

Whitacre said medical marijuana users are not actively tested to see that they are using the drug or diverting it, something that is a requirement for patients who use other prescribed narcotics.

Roger Gruber, owner of Havre Bicycle located next to Bloom Montana, a dispensary on Fourth Avenue, said at first he didn't like it but after getting to know his neighbors he would hate to see council vote to ban them so they are no longer in business.

"I think it would be a real bully thing to do," Gruber said.

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich said that because medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, the city allowing dispensaries could jeopardize federal grant funding his department depends on.

When the city applies for a federal grant, they must agree to abide by federal law, Matoisich said. He said his department alone receives $300,000 in federal funding that allows them to purchase equipment.

Rick Uland, a retired police officer with 37 years in law enforcement including as a sworn officer and civilian advisor in San Francisco, said that he was not speaking in any official capacity and was invited by Matosich to speak. He said San Francisco was one of the first cities to legalize medical marijuana, and he had professional experience dealing with dispensaries.

He said medical marijuana dispensaries can adversely affect crime and other quality of life issues that law enforcement have to deal with.

"What gets lost are all the other aspects that come with dispensaries," he said.

Uland said such issues include homelessness, dispensaries being robbed and more addiction.

 

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