MONTANA CANNABIS PROGRAM

Montana Medical Marijuana Overview: Voters of Montana passed Initiative 148 in 2004, legalizing medical marijuana. The passage of the initiative created a medical marijuana program where access to medical marijuana was through a caregivers collective (licensed providers) system. Over a decade later in 2017, a bill was signed into law, amending the medical marijuana program to allow for a state-regulated dispensing system. Under this amendment, licensed providers and marijuana-infused product providers can produce and dispense marijuana to registered patients. In 2019, the state passed another bill into law, providing for a major reform to Montana’s medical marijuana system. The latest amendment made several changes to the program to include increasing taxes on marijuana providers’ gross sales; prohibiting providers from contracting with other businesses to operate under their licenses; lifting the prohibition on patients that limited them to purchase from only one (1) assigned dispensary; and establishing a tiered cultivation approach based on canopy size.

Qualifying Medical Conditions: Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome when the condition or disease results in symptoms that seriously and adversely affect the patient’s health status; cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe chronic pain; intractable nausea or vomiting; epilepsy or an intractable seizure disorder; multiple sclerosis; Crohn’s disease; painful peripheral neuropathy; a central nervous system disorder resulting in chronic, painful spasticity or muscle spasms; admittance into hospice care; post-traumatic stress disorder

Montana Recreational Marijuana Overview: There were two initiatives, I-190 and CI-118, on the Nov 2020 ballot to legalize adult-use marijuana in Montana. I-190 and CI-118 are not opposing or competing initiatives, the two initiatives work in tandem. I-190 is a statutory measure that would legalize, regulate, and tax adult-use marijuana in Montana; CI-118 is a constitutional amendment that would give the state the authority to set the minimum age of marijuana consumption at 21. Under the statutory proposal, marijuana sales would be taxed at 20%. The law would give Montana medical marijuana providers first entry into the adult-use market, allow for limited personal possession and cultivation, tightly regulate production and distribution, shift regulatory authority for marijuana to the Montana Department of Revenue, and create new funds for veterans, healthcare, education, infrastructure and conservation efforts.