Becoming a Patient in Montana
Montana issues ID cards allowing patients to use marijuana legally. Patients may designate caregivers to assist them with taking and growing their medicine.
A patient and a caregiver may possess up to six plants and one ounce of usable marijuana each.
To register as a medical marijuana patient in Montana, you must submit the following information on forms provided by the Montana department of health and human services.
Either an MD or a DO can issue your recommendation.
You, as a medical marijuana patient, can grow your own medicine. A registered caregiver can also help you grow your medicine.
Be safe. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery under the influence. Do not medicate in public or on school grounds.
A person under 18 can become a patient, but their parent or legal guardian must agree to act as the minor-patient's primary caregiver and control their use. There is a section of the application specifically for minor-patients.
The state maintains a confidential list of patients and caregivers with patient ID cards. Only the Montana department of health and human services and state and local law enforcement agencies may access the list. Law enforcement may only access the list to verify a person's patient status.
The law does not address whether you can be evicted because you are using medical marijuana, even if you have only the amount of medical marijuana allowed by law. Nor does the law directly address a patient living in subsidized housing.
Under federal law medical marijuana is not protected, therefore you might be successfully evicted if you live in federally subsidized housing, even if you follow all of Montana's medical marijuana laws.
Even if you are a registered patient, your employer may still forbid medical marijuana use in the workplace. Montana law does not discuss whether employers are required to accommodate employees who use medical marijuana.
If you have questions about drug testing, you should ask your personal attorney. Although the Montana medical marijuana laws do not specifically address employment discrimination, a qualified patient typically has better chances for remedy if terminated from an existing job, than the same patient would have if discriminated against (as a result of a positive drug test) before being hired.
The law does not require your insurance carrier to cover the costs of your medical marijuana.
If you are a medical marijuana patient from out of state, Montana's medical marijuana laws will protect you. An out of state patient or caregiver ID card has the same effect as a registry ID card issued by the Department of Public Health and Human Services in Montana.
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/sourcefiles/I148.pdf Initiative 148
Montana Department of Health and Human Services
Licensure Bureau
Attn: Becky Fleming-Siebenaire
2401 Colonial Drive, 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 202953
Helena, MT 59620-2953
Phone: 406-444-2676
Email: Bfleming@mt.gov
Montana Medical Marijuana Program
SB423: Changes to the Medical Marijuana Law
Montana Medical Marijuana FAQ updated 5/20/11
