How To Get Medical Marijuana

Posts Tagged ‘montana’

Marijuana for medical purposes was legalized in Montana in 2004 and the law has survived more than one attempt to get it repealed, including earlier in 2012. But patients in need of medical marijuana can still get the drug if the follow the right procedures. In order to get medical marijuana, a patient needs a doctor’s recommendation, and can grow and cultivate the plant, or purchase it from caregiver collectives.

Get Medical Marijuana in Montana

Patients with a legitimate medical need can obtain marijuana, but only after applying for a registry card through the Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services (DPHHS). Applicant information is required in form, as well as verification of where the patient will actually obtain the marijuana. Other requirements for the application process include:

• A $75 application fee is required when the application is submitted.
• A photocopy of a valid Montana driver’s license or other state issued identification.
• Applicable physician statement.
• If the patient applicant is requesting a provider or marijuana infused products provider (MIPP), the provider/MIPP must sign page two of the application form. Any individual who wishes to be a provider/MIPP must first register with the state by completing the provider/MIPP packet.

Other forms are also available and can be downloaded from the DPHHS website. These forms include:

• The landlord permission form.
• Change request form.
• Physician’s statement for a debilitating medical condition.
• Minor registered cardholder (patient) application.
• Physician’s statement for minors.
• Physician’s statement for a chronic pain diagnosis.
• Provider/Marijuana Infused Products Provider Application Form.

Qualifying Conditions and Symptoms

Patients who wish to get medical marijuana must have proof from a doctor that he or she suffers from one or more of the following: Cancer, glaucoma or 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; Intractable nausea or vomiting; Epilepsy or an intractable seizure disorder; Multiple sclerosis; Chron’s disease; Painful peripheral neuropathy; A central nervous system disorder resulting in chronic, painful spasticity or muscle spasms; or admittance into a hospice. In order to get medical marijuana in Montana that patient needs to provide proof of their condition through test results and other documentation.

Key Definitions

There have been a number of changes to the Montana Marijuana Program that can affect concerned parties. Here is information to be aware of before and after submitting an application.

• Marijuana Infused Products Provider (MIPP) is a “Montana resident who meets the requirements of the law, and who has applied for and received a registry ID card to manufacture and provide marijuana-infused products for a registered cardholder.”
• Registered cardholder means a registered patient with a qualifying, debilitating medical condition who has and maintains a valid registry card.
• Resident is a person who does not claim residency in another state or country for any reason. An absentee property owner who pays property taxes is not considered a Montana resident under the law and cannot get medical marijuana through the program.

Finally, there are some common questions that people ask about the program, like how long is my registry card valid? And where can I get information on seeds or cuttings to get started? The card is valid until the expiration date printed on the card and must be carried at all times; the state doesn’t provide information on growing or cultivation, but recommends the patient searches online or consults with family, friends, or other resources.

Jason Christ, the outspoken medical marijuana activist and entrepreneur has taken his battle for free access to the University of Montana’s Law Library all the way to the state’s supreme court.

Positioning his quest for free access to information as a constitutional matter, Christ stated that his petition “ represents matters of the most fundamental importance.”

Jason Christ gained public recognition though his quest to get as many people as possible a doctor’s recommendation for medical marijuana through his travelling “clinics”. These one-day assessments gave hundreds of people throughout the state the right to purchase medical marijuana.

In recent years, Christ has developed a taste for litigation, filing thirteen lawsuits in the Missoula Country District Court. Despite a lack of legal training, he has represented himself in court each time, and it is that lack of training that Christ is citing in his petition to the court.

Christ wrote, “In order to compensate for my lack of legal experience and training, my requirement to the law library is absolute and protected by the US constitution.”

As well as his own lawsuits (mostly against former business partners and his competitors in the medical marijuana industry) there is also a considerable amount of legal action being taken against him. Restraining orders have been filed, including a yearlong order that prohibits Christ from stepping foot on the campus of the University of Montana. It is this restraining order that Christ argues is impeding his right to effectively defend himself in court.

Christ originally filed a petition in the District Court for the order to be lifted, but has now turned towards the state’s highest court in an attempt to access the library.  The District Court recommended that Christ use the resources of the Office of Public Defender to research his cases, but Christ claims that the resources are inadequate for the comprehensive preparation of the lawsuits he is mounting, and his own defense from the legal action taken against him.

Christ’s most high profile lawsuit argues against a 2011 state law that prohibits people under state Corrections Department supervision from obtaining medical marijuana. Christ claims that thousands of worthy recipients of medical marijuana are stopped from obtaining the medicine that they require by this law.

If convicted of criminal felony intimidation, a charge that Christ faces for allegedly calling in a bomb threat to a Verizon cell phone store, then he will be among the recipients who are denied their medical marijuana. Considering he will also lose his livelihood as a medicinal marijuana distributer, it is a charge he has a vigorous interest in defending.

However, despite his extremely vested interest in beating the charge, Christ will be defending himself in that case too, albeit with public defender Katie Green on standby.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath has ordered the District Court to respond to Christ’s petition within 20 days. If the judgment is still not to his liking, then one assumes that he will ask the state Supreme Court to overrule the verdict.

All of our information comes from, and will direct you to, that state’s specific governing body. We will not direct you to any 3rd party or otherwise externally collected information. We believe that putting patients in touch with information directly from their state is the safest way of helping people obtain medical marijuara. We’ve sorted through those sometimes laborious state run websites and will guide you to the right sections, forms, applications, applicable rules and laws, and anything else you need to get medical marijuana safely and legally.