Missoula, Mont. – After a judge ruled Wednesday to immediately reopen Montana’s medical marijuana dispensaries, there’s still a long wait for patients to get their green cards.
Flower, a dispensary on Higgins Avenue in Missoula, helped patients file paperwork Thursday, but they said it was business as usual. They’ve helped patients file paperwork for months in anticipation Initiative 182 would pass the November ballot.
During the downtime they say they’ve helped patients get into clinics to be approved for their green card, but that’s where the process would come to a standstill. That paperwork sat for months because the Department of Health couldn’t approve it without a judge’s ruling.
"I overnighted all of the patient paperwork," explained Bobby Long, the owner of Flower. "New patient paperwork and then also existing patients that wanted to switch from growing their own to having me as a provider," he said.
Long predicts patients still have a long wait to receive their green cards because of an influx of paperwork to be processed by the Department of Health.
An error in drafting the ballot measure would have delayed patient’s access to medical marijuana until July, but District Judge James Reynolds of Helena ruled Wednesday that it shouldn’t.
The judge said the people who are the most in need are those who are seriously ill and are the least able to grow their own marijuana.
While Long was waiting for the vote on I-182 he began documenting patients around the state, including a man who passed away from multiple sclerosis before the initiative passed. Long says the man’s pain was most soothed by using marijuana.
The initiative approved by voters last month struck down a law that limited medical marijuana providers to three patients each.
The three-patient limit took effect Aug. 31 and forced the closure of marijuana dispensaries across the state, leaving thousands of registered users without providers. At this point, Long says providers had to dispose of what they had. He says now he has to start all over.
Long’s storefront sat empty until he turned it into an art gallery.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Missoula Medical Marijuana Dispensary Owner Looks Ahead
Author: Taylor Winkel
Contact: (406) 721-2063
Photo Credit: KECI 13
Website: NBC Montana
