Montana's repeal of medical marijuana law could kill job growth

Montana's D. Gregory Smith is HIV positive.

His blog post this morning brings personal attention to bear on the anti-civil rights faction (read, Republicans) within the Montana Legislature in its crush to choke the state's voter-approved medical marijuana law.  To persons for whom treatment with Marinol suppositories is clearly unacceptable, cannabis in its natural form should and must be available to patients.

But, Mr. Smith's observations are not so much about his own dilemma; they are about the hothouses of budding industries flowering to palliate the losses of construction and building jobs leaving affected tax collections at the core of the argument.  He points to a New York Times article:

But in a huge, mostly rural state where a libertarian, keep-government-off-my-back spirit runs deep, the debate is also different in temper and geography than in other states. “We tried prohibition,” said Representative Diane Sands, a Democrat. “Marijuana has been in our community for years; it is not going away,” she added. “We have to deal with that fact.” “We had many years to regulate something that 62 percent of Montanans wanted, and we chose to do nothing,” said Representative Pat Noonan, a Democrat. “Don’t vote against the citizens.”

Cannabis is an effective therapy for the sufferers of myriad ailments. It's cultivation, distribution, and use are part of an historically lucrative underground economy that is only recently being tapped as a legitimate revenue source. 

Contact your legislators and urge them to defend patients' rights and to do the right thing by Montanans.

Rehberg Dennypistemologizes Senator Tester's chances for reelection.

Daylight Saving Time returns anew Monday, March 13.

Here's an educational psychology professor at Northwestern University with a new saw for human sexuality: