Growers claim their rights violated
Federal prosecutors continue to ask judges to ban any mention of Montana’s Medical Marijuana Act in trials against medical marijuana businessmen.
In the latest case, U.S. Assistant Attorney Joe Thaggard argued that Montana’s law legalizing growing and distributing marijuana for medical purposes is irrelevant in the case against Chris Williams, Chris Lindsey and four others.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen hasn’t ruled on the case in Helena federal court, but U.S. District Judge Don Molloy made a similar ruling in Missoula on June 15. In that case, Molloy dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by 14 individuals and businesses that were among the two dozen medical marijuana businesses raided by federal agents and local law enforcement in March 2011.
The plaintiffs argued that the raids violated their constitutional rights in part because the Montana Medical Marijuana Act, which was overwhelmingly backed by voter initiative in 2004, allowed them to grow marijuana for medical reasons. Molloy, however, ruled that when the state law conflicts with the federal Controlled Substances Act, the federal law prevails.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also asked U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell to ban references to the state medical marijuana law in the case brought against the Flor family in Miles City. In that case, Richard Flor, his wife Sherry and their son Justin all signed plea agreements before Lovell ruled on the request.
Williams and Lindsey were owners of Montana Cannabis, one of the companies raided in March 2011. Among other sites, the company operated a large greenhouse on the outskirts of Helena.
Lindsey is also an attorney and represented Lief Erickson, one of two men arrested on U.S. 2 near Lake Five Road in February 2011 while transporting medical marijuana to Great Falls. Erickson and Robin Ruiz eventually pleaded no contest in Flathead County District Court to felony criminal possession with intent to distribute. In that case, Judge Stewart Stadler’s ruling that medical marijuana caregivers were not allowed to exchange marijuana with other caregivers was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court.
Williams, who has been very outspoken about the March 2011 raids, joined Lindsey and four other medical marijuana businessmen in suing the U.S. government. They claimed they were encouraged to get into the medical marijuana business after President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued public statements indicating federal agents would not go after medical marijuana businesses that followed state law.
Considering the meteoric rise of Montana’s medical marijuana industry several years ago, business is now dramatically reduced. At one point, the greater Columbia Falls area boasted six commercial outlets — including a full-blown marijuana grow operation right across Nucleus Avenue from the post office. Now there’s none.
The 2011 Legislature’s restrictive reform bill and the March 2011 raids dealt a huge blow to the industry. By June 2011, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services had more than 30,000 medical marijuana users on file. One year later, the number had dropped to 8,681. The number of providers statewide fell from a high of 4,848 in March 2011 to 390 this June.