In a recent ruling, the Montana Supreme Court declared that medical marijuana providers should be compensated for their services, but restricted the commercial sales of the drug by limiting providers to no more than three patients each.
As a means to curtail abuse that led to a flourishing marijuana industry in Montana 5 years ago, the law would have banned medical marijuana providers from receiving any pay. However, the court stated that the sales ban would leave a number of patients with debilitating illness, without any available source for the drug. However, the Court upheld the rule that marijuana providers can only have a maximum of three patients each.
The majority opinion feels that the Legislature determined that by placing a limit on the number of registered cardholders that a provider may assist, makes it less appealing to major traffickers and keeps marijuana away from large-scale manufacturing operations. The justices also upheld the provision of the statute that bans marijuana advertising and initiates an automatic review for physicians who recommended cannabis for more than 25 marijuana patients.
Medical marijuana was legalized in Montana in 2004, but in 2009, after a U.S. Department of Justice memo suggested that prosecution of marijuana would not be a priority, its growth surged in an unprecedented level. By 2011, registered users had grown to more than 30,000 in a state of 1 million people, and the number of providers had reached 4,800.
A much stricter requirement to show actual medical condition for placement on the medical marijuana registry was also imposed. This contributed in the decline of patients under-30, who used chronic pain as a qualifying condition.
Since then, however, the number of registered patients has been increasing again and as of January, there were 13,640 registered users and 471 providers in the state.
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