County Commissioners to hold Medical Marijuana public hearing on Dec. 30

The Phillips County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Monday, December 30, at the Phillips County Courthouse in Malta ahead of a proposed ordinance that would prohibit the growth, sale, and distribution, of medical marijuana, and any establishment attempting to grow, sell, or distribute medical marijuana or paraphernalia in Phillips County, outside the incorporated boundaries of the City of Malta, Town of Saco, or Town of Dodson, according to a public notice posted in the “Phillips County News.”

The meeting will start at 1:30 p.m. and, according to the public notice, “The Phillips County Commission has determined after its required investigation that the licensing, opening, or operation of any establishments that grow, sell, or distribute medical marijuana or paraphernalia within Phillips County could be immediately detrimental to, harmful to, and a threat to the peace, property, health, safety, and welfare of the County and its inhabitants, and can, through such an effect, create a public nuisance and have adopted a resolution to adopt a zoning ordinance to regulate medical marijuana growth, sale, and distribution, and any establishment attempting to grow, sell, or distribute medical marijuana or paraphernalia in Phillips County, outside the incorporated boundaries of the City of Malta, Town of Saco, or Town of Dodson.

“The proposed zoning ordinance specifically prohibits any new or lawfully existing medical marijuana provider or marijuana-infused products provider from establishing a new dispensary or grow operation, or expanding the number of plants currently growing on the property. This prohibition shall not apply to a registered cardholder who possesses not more than four mature marijuana plants, twelve seedlings and one ounce of usable marijuana as provided by the Act, nor shall it apply to a provider, already registered with the Phillips County Sanitarian and in operation at their designated location on the date of this “Ordinance, who possesses not more than four mature marijuana plants, twelve seedlings and one ounce of usable marijuana solely for each of his or her registered cardholder’s use or as provided the Montana Marijuana Act.

The proposed zoning ordinance is on file for public inspection at the office of the Phillips County Clerk and Recorder.”

Medical marijuana was legalized in the state of Montana in 2004 and in 2016, voters approved Montana Initiative 182. The initiative called for repealing the three-patient limit for medical marijuana providers. The initiative passed with 57-percent yes votes in the 2016 election, but in Phillips County, voters no-voted the measure 1,252 to 907.

In 2017, the Phillips County Commissioners passed a resolution prohibiting the operation of medical marijuana storefronts pursuant to the Montana Medical Marijuana Act.

In May of 2017, Phillips County had 33 cardholders and no providers. As of August 2019, Phillips County has 88 cardholders and one provider.

The latest Montana Marijuana Registry shows that there are 35,158 patients in the Montana Medical Marijuana Program. Of that total, 14,629 (or nearly 42-percent) are ages 51 and older and the highest “active enrollment by condition” are severe chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder