Bozeman's police chief wants city officials to temporarily ban any new medical marijuana businesses until they examine whether restrictions should be established.
"When they pop up in the middle of a residential neighborhood, should our community have a say?" Interim Police Chief Marty Kent said Thursday. "Is that OK? There are starting to be some concerns."
Billings, Great Falls, Whitefish and Kalispell are among the cities across the state that have prohibited any new cannabis providers from opening up until they can study possible zoning rules.
Kalispell approved a 90-day moratorium on medical marijuana businesses this week after the announcement that one planned to open half a block from an elementary school.
And although Bozeman has more licensed growers and patients than most anywhere else in Montana, the city is among the municipalities that haven't yet spelled out where medical marijuana can be sold.
Gallatin County has the highest number of registered medical marijuana patients and the second highest number of licensed medical marijuana providers, or "caregivers," in Montana, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.
There are 1,253 registered patients -- 20 percent more than the next county, Flathead County. And, there are 272 licensed providers in Gallatin County, just nine fewer than Flathead.
As Interim Planning Director Chris Saunders interprets Bozeman's current zoning requirements, patients and providers can legally grow marijuana in areas zoned residential suburban, where agricultural uses are allowed. Those areas are mostly located on the outskirts of town.
The sale of medical marijuana, Saunders said, would be permitted wherever retail stores are allowed.
"That means all the main corridors, large parts of 19th Avenue, North Seventh, downtown, Main Street, there's part of College Street," Saunders said, ticking off the business district zones.
Providers, however, are not allowed to do business out of homes in residential areas, as Saunders reads the rules.
"We do not allow medical offices as home occupations," Saunders said.
Kent said home operations are out there. Under state law, information about medical marijuana providers is confidential, except to police.
"There hasn't been a very big problem yet, but I think it has the potential to become a problem if we don't get out in front of it," Kent said.
Jared Wright operates his medical marijuana company, Montana Alternative Medicine Corporation, out of the Medical Arts Building just north of downtown on Willson Avenue.
He said any regulations should give patients the same rights to fill their marijuana prescriptions as they would for any other medicine.
"They shouldn't be made to feel like they're doing something wrong," Wright said.
Wright serves about 60 patients. He supplies people with cancer and other ailments who sometimes can't travel far, if at all.
"(Medical marijuana) ought to be made available to (patients) in a professional setting where they can get their medicine, and it can be done legally," Wright said. "I don't think it should be regulated to where they have to go out of town."
Wright grows his company's marijuana outside of the city limits. In his office at the Medical Arts Building, he keeps small amounts as needed for appointments. Only patients with an appointment are allowed in the office. And, the marijuana is kept out of the open in vacuum-sealed packages to avoid any odor.
It's not like someone could come in off the street and see a whole bunch of pipes and marijuana plants, he said.
Bozeman Commissioner Chris Mehl said he thinks Bozeman should join the other cities across Montana in temporarily restricting the opening of new medical marijuana businesses. But it shouldn't be for long, maybe 30 to 45 days, he said.
"Why not take a little time to think this through and figure out how to do this best for everyone?" Mehl said Thursday.
Commissioner Sean Becker said he needs more information before he can take a position on the issue.
"There are no rules with this because we simply did not understand the scope of the legalization of medical marijuana and how it would affect us locally," he said.
Commissioners have asked city planning, police and legal staff to compile a list of local concerns about the developing medical marijuana industry so they can discuss the issue as early as the commission's meeting March 1.
Montana voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative legalizing marijuana for medical use in 2004. But growers kept their operations small and out of sight until the Obama administration announced in October that the federal government wouldn't prosecute people, following their state's laws.
In Montana, a licensed medical marijuana patient can only legally buy from one caregiver, whose name is printed on the back of his or her state license.
Each patient can legally grow six plants on their own. Caregivers are allowed to grow six plants for every patient they have.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Author: AMANDA RICKER
Copyright: 2010 Bozeman Daily Chronicle
"When they pop up in the middle of a residential neighborhood, should our community have a say?" Interim Police Chief Marty Kent said Thursday. "Is that OK? There are starting to be some concerns."
Billings, Great Falls, Whitefish and Kalispell are among the cities across the state that have prohibited any new cannabis providers from opening up until they can study possible zoning rules.
Kalispell approved a 90-day moratorium on medical marijuana businesses this week after the announcement that one planned to open half a block from an elementary school.
And although Bozeman has more licensed growers and patients than most anywhere else in Montana, the city is among the municipalities that haven't yet spelled out where medical marijuana can be sold.
Gallatin County has the highest number of registered medical marijuana patients and the second highest number of licensed medical marijuana providers, or "caregivers," in Montana, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.
There are 1,253 registered patients -- 20 percent more than the next county, Flathead County. And, there are 272 licensed providers in Gallatin County, just nine fewer than Flathead.
As Interim Planning Director Chris Saunders interprets Bozeman's current zoning requirements, patients and providers can legally grow marijuana in areas zoned residential suburban, where agricultural uses are allowed. Those areas are mostly located on the outskirts of town.
The sale of medical marijuana, Saunders said, would be permitted wherever retail stores are allowed.
"That means all the main corridors, large parts of 19th Avenue, North Seventh, downtown, Main Street, there's part of College Street," Saunders said, ticking off the business district zones.
Providers, however, are not allowed to do business out of homes in residential areas, as Saunders reads the rules.
"We do not allow medical offices as home occupations," Saunders said.
Kent said home operations are out there. Under state law, information about medical marijuana providers is confidential, except to police.
"There hasn't been a very big problem yet, but I think it has the potential to become a problem if we don't get out in front of it," Kent said.
Jared Wright operates his medical marijuana company, Montana Alternative Medicine Corporation, out of the Medical Arts Building just north of downtown on Willson Avenue.
He said any regulations should give patients the same rights to fill their marijuana prescriptions as they would for any other medicine.
"They shouldn't be made to feel like they're doing something wrong," Wright said.
Wright serves about 60 patients. He supplies people with cancer and other ailments who sometimes can't travel far, if at all.
"(Medical marijuana) ought to be made available to (patients) in a professional setting where they can get their medicine, and it can be done legally," Wright said. "I don't think it should be regulated to where they have to go out of town."
Wright grows his company's marijuana outside of the city limits. In his office at the Medical Arts Building, he keeps small amounts as needed for appointments. Only patients with an appointment are allowed in the office. And, the marijuana is kept out of the open in vacuum-sealed packages to avoid any odor.
It's not like someone could come in off the street and see a whole bunch of pipes and marijuana plants, he said.
Bozeman Commissioner Chris Mehl said he thinks Bozeman should join the other cities across Montana in temporarily restricting the opening of new medical marijuana businesses. But it shouldn't be for long, maybe 30 to 45 days, he said.
"Why not take a little time to think this through and figure out how to do this best for everyone?" Mehl said Thursday.
Commissioner Sean Becker said he needs more information before he can take a position on the issue.
"There are no rules with this because we simply did not understand the scope of the legalization of medical marijuana and how it would affect us locally," he said.
Commissioners have asked city planning, police and legal staff to compile a list of local concerns about the developing medical marijuana industry so they can discuss the issue as early as the commission's meeting March 1.
Montana voters overwhelmingly passed an initiative legalizing marijuana for medical use in 2004. But growers kept their operations small and out of sight until the Obama administration announced in October that the federal government wouldn't prosecute people, following their state's laws.
In Montana, a licensed medical marijuana patient can only legally buy from one caregiver, whose name is printed on the back of his or her state license.
Each patient can legally grow six plants on their own. Caregivers are allowed to grow six plants for every patient they have.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Author: AMANDA RICKER
Copyright: 2010 Bozeman Daily Chronicle
