BOOTLEG NEWS: MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACING MODERATELY VIOLENT BACKLASH IN SOME STATES

From Huffington Post...HELENA, Mont. — The vandals struck in the middle of the night, hurling Molotov cocktails through the windows of two medical marijuana businesses and spray-painting "NOT IN OUR TOWN" just before the Billings City Council was supposed to take up a ban on any new pot shops.

Montana and other states that have legalized medical marijuana are seeing a backlash, with public anger rising and politicians passing laws to slow the proliferation of pot shops and bring order to what has become a wide-open, Wild West sort of industry.

They are looking to avoid what happened in California, which allowed the pot industry to grow so out of control that at one point Los Angeles had more medical marijuana shops than Starbucks – about 1,000 by one count.

"Yeah, it's out of control – and it needs control, if not extinction," Montana Sen. Jim Shockley said Friday. "There's no control over distribution. There's no control over who's growing it. There's no control in dosage."

Fourteen states have legalized medical marijuana, beginning with California in 1996, and the District of Columbia followed suit this month. The laws allow chronically ill people to buy marijuana with permission from a doctor.

But many of these states passed their laws without working out the details. And they weren't ready for the boom in pot shops that occurred this past year after the Obama administration announced it wouldn't prosecute medical marijuana users.

In some places, law enforcement officials and civic leaders are complaining that there are too many marijuana dispensaries, that buyers and sellers are falling victim to robberies and break-ins, that driving-under-the-influence arrests are on the rise, and that the pot is being sold indiscriminately and winding up on the black market.

Some state and local governments are now rushing to put regulations in place. Colorado lawmakers passed sweeping rules this month for pot growers and the estimated 1,100 shops selling marijuana, creating a new state bureaucracy led by auditors and criminal investigators who would monitor the industry to make sure, for example, that the drug is being sold only to patients who have a doctor's recommendation.

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Tags: News, Politics, Weed

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Comment by Jaeson Roberts on May 21, 2010 at 6:32pm: Wow, now answer me this how many people has weed killed? I bet the same people who did this are alcoholics which has killed millions but that is perfectly legal, or consciously/unconsciously abuse their prescriptions. I'm so glad the government is really looking out for us, and that Americans are so understanding.

Comment by repairmanmanmanmanmanmanmanman on May 21, 2010 at 6:33pm: They're probably upset that all of the KFCs are being replaced by pot shops, like in South Park.

Comment by Ron Engle on May 21, 2010 at 6:42pm: thats some bs! if anything is out of control its starbucks, fast food, the advertisement industry, banks, car dealers, and more. more pot=more peace. so the people buying and selling pot are getting robbed. that doesnt mean pot is the problem, they're not the ones robbing I guarentee it. thats like making mercedes illegal to drive in the city cus they get jacked. notice what stat they DIDNT mention? like total crime? ill bet its lower where theres more pot businesses. weed isnt the problem people!!!!

Comment by D-shy on May 21, 2010 at 9:14pm: I support medical marijuana dispensaries, but there has to be a limit to really how many can be in one area as well as who grows and sells it. Like the article said the number of shops is out of control and I think it's making people really not believe that these dispensaries are just for medical usage. There needs to be set rules and guidelines to avoid any backlash like this. Plain and Simple.

Comment by bacari colvin on May 21, 2010 at 10:49pm: they get outraged over some medicinal marijuana shops but you have a gas station that your kids can get cigarettes from(because half of those dudes don't check id trust me i'm 15) and a liquor store which sells a liquid that kills millions and so does cigarettes, how many has weed killed? how many pregnancies are terminated because of weed?and maybe it does but its not really recorded because its doesn't but maybe even a couple a year and im sure the government would have liked if these 2 fools would have smoked some weed instead destroying public property

Comment by bacari colvin on May 21, 2010 at 10:50pm: private property*

Comment by Sly on May 22, 2010 at 1:39am: I'm pretty high right now.

Comment by lookhereholmes on May 22, 2010 at 9:41am: @ bacari colvin.. Took the words right out of my mouth and I probably couldn't have said it any better. But you know I guess alcohol and cancer sticks are just more acceptable because people love to mask it under the banner of "American Tradition".

Comment by Tecpaocelotl on May 22, 2010 at 12:59pm: I bet you Starbucks coffee has done more harm than any weed shop has ever done.

I don't think California was that bad. It's called Capitalism with supply and demand. With large amounts of weed shops, it causes competition and lowers the cost of Medical marijuana for those who needed it.

If only we can do that with expensive prescriptions. Of course, the pharmaceutical corporations want a monopoly.

Comment by Brad Strock on May 22, 2010 at 9:25pm: im from montana and love bud. Its not like they are opening meth shops, is it actually possible that there is nothing wrong with weed

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