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Montana Medical Marijuana Federal Raid Protests

March 15th, 2011

The federal raid live blog continues here.

Statewide protests against the dramatic and callous raids on as many as a dozen medical marijuana providers, timed perfectly to “coincide” with a key Senate vote on repealing medical marijuana, commence tomorrow, Wednesday, March 16th, 2011.

In cities statewide, Americans for Safe Access and Montana NORML (among others) are calling for people to convene upon their local city halls at 5PM, in protest of these federal actions and in solidarity with the thousands of affected patients.

What:  Vigils at Local City Halls
When: Tomorrow, Wednesday March 16th, 2011 starting at 5PM
Where: Your Local City Hall
IMPORTANT: Bring signs that say:  “YOUR CITY wants Feds Out of MT” (for example , “Billings wants Feds out of Montana!”)

Some local events have Facebook pages:

If you plan to attend your local event, and to get information about joining a 2PM coordination conference call prior to the vigil,  please send an email with your city’s name in the subject line to: action@safeaccessnow.org

 

Also, in Missoula, an “Out of the Shadows, into the Streets!” march is planned for Saturday the 19th in Missoula. Convene at Caras Park at noon. Bring your signs from Wednesday! Here is the Facebook event page.

If you plan to attend an event please send an email with your cities name in the subject line to action@safeaccessnow.org

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Posted in Events, Federal, Medical Marijuana, Montana, Prohibition

An Afternoon In Missoula with Eric Holder – Feb 9, 2011

February 6th, 2011

Eric Holder is the Attorney General of the United States. He’s also the author of the “Holder Memo”, relevant to marijuana activists, which reads in part:

The prosecution of significant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana, and the disruption of illegal drug manufacturing and trafficking networks continues to be a core priority in the Department’s efforts against narcotics and dangerous drugs, and the Department’s investigative and prosecutorial resources should be directed towards these objectives. As a general matter, pursuit of these priorities should not focus federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana. For example, prosecution of individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or those caregivers in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state law who provide such individuals with marijuana, is unlikely to be an efficient use of limited federal resources.

The full memo is worth reading carefully.

Attorney General Holder will be in Missoula this week, at an event which is free and open to the public:

An important thing to realize in the confluence of state and federal laws regarding marijuana is that, if you are prosecuted in federal court, your compliance with any state medical marijuana laws is not just legally irrelevant, you are actually prohibited from mentioning it! So, for pro-cannabis activists, the most important message for Mr. Holder is probably:

Since the federal government’s policy regarding medical marijuana law enforcement is currently to intervene only when an individual is acting in violation of state law, please allow those cases to be prosecuted in state courts. There, compassionate access for patients can at least be discussed in court and considered by the jury when determining the guilt or innocence of the accused.

For more information about the event, and to suggest topics for the Q&A,  call Carla Caballero-Jackson, the law school’s director of external relations, at 406-243-6254 or e-mail carla.caballero-jackson@umontana.edu. Media representatives should call Cary Shimek at 406-243-5914 (office) or 406-240-9582 (cell) or e-mail cary.shimek@umontana.edu.



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Posted in Events, Medical Marijuana

Montana NORML Newsletter – Missoula Fundraiser, Legislature and the News

January 6th, 2011

Friends,

First, a heads up:  I’m headed out of town for a week. While I am gone, you might receive email updates from our friend and Montana NORML board member Cynthia Wolken. She’ll let you know if anything happens in the legislature that needs your immediate attention.

The legislature convened on Monday and marijuana-related bills are swirling like smoke in a hookah.  By our friend Kate‘s last count, there are now 24 separate bills (click for a summary).

Whatever happens, rest assured that our medical marijuana program (if it still exists) will be a lot different in a few months. For now, though, it just keeps growing and growing.

Two events this month that warrant your attention:

On Saturday, January 8th in Missoula, join Irvin Rosenfeld at Zoo Mountain Natural Care for a fundraiser and book-signing. Mr. Rosenfeld has received 300 joints a month from the federal government for the past 25+ years and is a remarkable advocate for legal access to cannabis. Here’s the Facebook event page.

Then, the big one:

On Saturday, January 15th in Missoula, please plan on attending a fundraiser to benefit Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy, Montana’s only 501c3 public education group devoted to raising awareness about marijuana policies. This event is co-sponsored by many cannabis-focused organizations, including Montana NORML. Facebook users, click here to read about the cannabis coalition that’s formed over the past few months.

Event Details (check the Facebook event page or the Montana NORML Blog for full details):

When: Saturday, January 15th, 5PM-11:30PM
Where: Holiday Inn Parkside, Missoula, 200 S. Pattee St
What: Silent Auction, Fancy Dinner, and live music from House of Quist, The Dodgy Mountain Men, and more.
Admission: $5, or $75 with sit-down dinner (proper attire required)

Full details are here. Don’t miss this.

And here’s an idea for caregiver businesses. If you love what you do and want to help preserve the law, how about sponsoring some of your patients to join us? Buy their tickets and bring them to the event!  :)

And now, the news…

Montana Marijuana News

Last but not least:

If you have money to donate this week, send it to:

Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy
PO Box 7146
Missoula MT 59807

and/or click the yellow donate button on our website.

If you have time, register at http://montanadrugpolicy.org

If you have neither (really?), just forward this message to a friend.

Onwards.

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Posted in Events, Medical Marijuana, Missoula, Montana, Newsletter

Fundraiser Jan 15th – Leave No Patient Behind

January 5th, 2011

Meet, greet, and welcome to Montana Irvin Rosenfeld, federal medical marijuana patient, activist, and advocate since 1982.

Don’t miss this one of a kind, gala fundraiser to support Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy’s statewide public education efforts, and their tireless defense of sensible Montana cannabis policies.

Brought to you by:
……
• PATIENTS & FAMILIES UNITED
• Montana Medical Growers Association
• Montana NORML
• Montanans for Responsible Legislation
• Alliance for Cannabis Science
• Montana Botanical Analysis
• CannabAnalysis
• Montana Connect
• Kannakare Health Services
• Garden Mother Herbs
• Zoo Mountain Natural Care
• Lindsey Law Office

Join us Saturday, January 15, at the beautiful Holiday Inn Parkside!

200 Pattee
Missoula, Montana.

$5 general admission includes post-dinner silent/live auctions, live music, entertainment, and the latest news and information in Montana’s struggle for safe access.

$75 all access admission includes reception and dinner with Irvin Rosenfeld, live music, auction events, and much, much more!
(proper attire required)

Schedule;

4:30 pm – Doors open
5:00 pm – No-host Cocktail Hour (featuring University String Quartet)
6:00 pm – Elegant, Catered Sit-Down Dinner with federal patient, Irvin Rosenfeld
(cash bar available – proper attire required)
7:30 pm – Entertainment Begins
8:00 pm – Silent Auction Bidding Ends
8:30 pm – Live Auction
9:00 pm – Midnight – Live, outstanding, get you on your feet entertainment!
Featuring the talented, the accomplished, and the ever popular

House of Quist (includes former front man, Rob Quist, of the Mission Mountain Wood Band)

Local favorite, The Dodgy Mountain Men,

And much, much more…

Both dinner and live-auction events feature a short welcome by Tom Daubert, founder and director of Patients & Families United, followed by Irvin Rosenfeld, 29-year federal cannabis patient and member of the Board of Directors of distinguished advocacy group, Patients Out of Time (Sponsor of the nation’s only accredited continuing education program on cannabis for physicians approved, and recognized, by the American Medical Association).

Caregiver, Corporate, and Organizational Sponsorships;

Choose to support our shared cause with a 100% tax-deductible donation to Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy, as follows;

$50 to be listed as an event co-sponsor
$100 for promotional or ‘public information’ table during event
However, feel free to donate whatever amount you can — no contribution is too large or too small!

Auction Items Needed!
You may also support by donating items (goods or services) for use in our silent and/or live auctions! To donate, please email (responsiblemontanans@gmail.com), or call (406)285-1034!
(Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization)

Caregivers — Give Your Patients Free Tickets!
Tickets are a great way to show your patients that you care and appreciate their support! Treat your patients, family, or friends to an evening of entertainment, and help ensure your ability to meet the needs of medical cannabis patients in the future! Tickets are available for dinner/entertainment, or just general admission.

Please email responsiblemontanans@gmail.com, or call (406)285-1034 for details!

Advance tickets are available at Rockin’ Rudy’s, your local caregiver, Griz Tix, or by phone!

Call (406)285-1034, or email responsiblemontanans@gmail.com for more information!

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Posted in Events

Montana NORML Newsletter – Fundraising, Irv Rosenfeld and the News

December 31st, 2010

Friends,

I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve been told lately about the trickle of financial support from professional growers who want to help defend Montana’s medical cannabis program. It takes lots of time and talent and money to assemble a functional grassroots political apparatus capable of having an impact on the lawmaking process, and things are starting to come together.

There’s still plenty more to do.  Please, forward this email to your grower friends.

For a tax-deductible financial contribution, write your check to Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy, the organization that is taking the lead on organizing education efforts related to defending the medical marijuana program in Montana:

Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy
PO Box 7146
Missoula MT 59807

If you’d prefer to put your funds into pushing forward towards regulating cannabis for all adults, then click the yellow donate  button on our website.

Don’t have money to spare? No problem. Are you registered at http://montanadrugpolicy.org yet? At this site, we’re collecting contact info from people who want action alerts about neighborhood-level advocacy. Get involved!

If you want to be involved, if you want to have an impact, then the next 2-3 months are critical. We’ll be sending out periodic alerts, sometimes daily, about things you can do to provide important constituent feedback to lawmakers who will be rewriting the law in a few weeks.  Montana medical marijuana policies will be a lot different in 3 months.  There is no guarantee of a good outcome, but together we can have an effect on the process. So, please pay close attention to your email and/or Facebook and/or Twitter.

Events

There will be various events throughout the process in which you can be involved. The first is a book signing MMGA fundraiser with Irv Rosenfeld, one of a handful of federal medical marijuana patients, who gets a big aluminum tin of pre-rolled marijuana joints from the federal government every month. For free. Read that again. It’s true.

The event will take place at Zoo Mountain Natural Care in Missoula from 6-8PM next Saturday January 8th. Here’s the Facebook event page. I’ll be out of town on a much-needed vacation, but thank you to Zoo Mountain for hosting the event (check out the video on their site).

Clear your Missoula calendar for an event on the night of the 15th as well — details to be announced soon.

Marijuana News

I’m proud to say that Montana NORML made the news a few times this month:

We’ll keep on pushing forward if you keep on providing your support. Okay?

Here’s some additional recent news:

By the way, from the 5th-15th, you might get alerts from trusted volunteers who are not me. I’ll be (completely) out of town. If you get an email with [Mtnorml-list] in the subject, please pay attention.

Don’t do nothing. Let’s roll!

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Posted in Events, Medical Marijuana, Missoula, Montana, Newsletter, Tax & Regulate

Montana NORML Newsletter – Meeting in Missoula, Repeal and Reality TV

November 12th, 2010

Good evening friends,

If you’d like to meet the Montana NORML team and join us for a conversation about our activities and plans, please come down to the Missoula Public Library at 2PM on Saturday, Nov 13th.Here’s the Facebook event page with details.

A big topic is likely to be the upcoming legislature and the changes we’re anticipating. Medical marijuana in Montana could be repealed this winter, literally turning thousands of people and hundreds of businesses into criminals overnight.

Already, scores of people have registered at candidates.montandrugpolicy.org to get alerts about key moments in the legislative process this winter at which it’ll be important for people to call and email their elected representatives. Please, take a moment and do so now.

But of course, as you all know, the goal of Montana NORML is to get past medical and remove the threat of arrest for responsible adult use of marijuana. So, we’re working towards introducing legislation which will do that, one way or another.

In the wake of the defeat of Prop 19 in California, National NORML came up with this list of 10 lessons for the next round of initiatives to end marijuana prohibition:

  1. We must explicitly protect medical marijuana rights.
  2. We must remember that people 18-25 are our biggest group of stakeholders and we cannot over-penalize them to appease our opponents.
  3. We must find a way to integrate the current illegal growers into a new legalized market.
  4. We cannot win until people are more scared of prohibition than they are of legalization.
  5. We must stop painting the marijuana as a bad thing that needs to be controlled.
  6. We must be realistic about what legalization can and cannot accomplish.
  7. Legalize first, then deal with the drug testing issue.
  8. You can’t “treat it like alcohol” unless you can test for it like alcohol on the roadside.
  9. Commercialization must be handled with consistent statewide regulation.
  10. Medical marijuana has reached its peak and is now inextricably linked to legalization.

Some of these may arouse some controversy and debate. What do you think?

We’ve received another casting call from reality TV producers. This time, it’s Firecracker Films, and they say:

I’m after BIG CHARACTERS and GROUPS / BUSINESSES in the medical
marijuana world – dispensaries, delivery businesses, collectives,
growers, evaluators, farmers and of course, patients. I’m looking for
fun straight-talking characters, humor and the type of team spirit
seen in shows such as History’s Pawn Stars or TLC’s Cake Boss.

Call 310 309 3942 and ask for Alice Sharpe if you want to know more.

And now, the news…

Montana Marijuana News

Don’t forget to register at http://candidates.montanadrugpolicy.org/ :)

Kindest regards.

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Posted in Elections, Events, Medical Marijuana, Montana, Newsletter

Montana NORML Newsletter – Conference Highlights, Voting and the News

October 15th, 2010

Good evening Montana, we love it when you forward this email to your friends!

It was great to meet so many of you at the MMGA conference earlier this week. It’s clear that marijuana is now an industry, a tangible force that has the power to affect the Montana economy and Montana families.  That’s always been the case, but now it’s coming out of the darkness, into the light.

Highlights of the conference for me included:

  • I spoke with at least 50 different people over the 48-hour conference, and all were 100% in agreement: of course we need to make cannabis legal for everyone. We will get there.
  • The legislative panel, at which candidates Mat Stevenson, Dave Lewis, Mary Caferro, and Don Judge appeared. It’s great to know that some legislators are willing to consider marijuana regulation thoughtfully and with our feedback in mind.
  • The after-party event. Thanks Chris! :)

Speaking of legislators, I want to be sure that everyone reading this votes this November. Some of you may have already voted via absentee ballot, which anyone can get.

I know some people believe that “voting makes no difference”, and I’m here to tell you you’re wrong.  Montana is a small state, population wise, which means that serious votes for legislative office are regularly decided by a few hundred votes, or less.

That means that if you have five friends, and each of them has five friends, and each of them has five friends that vote with us, we could tip a lot of elections our direction. If we get organized.

We all need information about candidates’ positions on cannabis. The best current source is here:

http://candidates.montanadrugpolicy.org/

I hope you’ll all forward that link to five friends, right now.

A serious message for all you cannabis farmers out there:  protect your art, protect your craft, protect your business, and organize your patients. They need to be registered to vote, and know what district they live in, and who to vote for. Each and every one of them. This week!

If not you, who? If not now, when?

And now, the news:
(For real-time news, become a Facebook Fan or Twitter follower.)

Montana Marijuana News

National Marijuana news:

Become a supporting member of Montana NORML now! http://mtnorml.org/join

And, as always, let us know if you get a letter to the editor published that supports NORML’s goals. We’ll send you some goodies.

Be the change you wish to see.

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Posted in Elections, Events, Medical Marijuana, Montana, Newsletter, Tax & Regulate

Montana NORML Newsletter – Activism, Caregivers, Voting and the News

October 8th, 2010

Dear Montana,

First, to everyone who showed up at Tuesday’s event in Missoula, thank you (you know who you are!) To everyone who said you’d show up and then didn’t, well, weak sauce.

The Women’s Marijuana Movement and the NORML Womens Alliance can be powerful. I encourage all you ladies out there to get involved. Yes, I mean set aside a few minutes a day,  go beyond mere talking about action, step up, and do something. You have the power.

I also have a message for all you cannabis farmers (a.k.a. “caregivers“) out there. The more patients you have, the more important your political role is. You cannot just work in the garden, you must inform your patients about the goings-on in Helena. You must ensure all your patients are registered to vote. And you must ensure they do actually vote.

Why? Because Montana’s medical marijuana law will come under vigorous scrutiny and assault in January. While unlikely, it could also be repealed entirely. Rest assured it will be changed significantly, with serious new restrictions.

Who should they vote for? Well, that depends on where you’re located.  Luckily, there’s a database of legislative candidates and their positions on cannabis:

http://candidates.montanadrugpolicy.org

If anyone knows of online interviews or other info we’re missing on any candidates, just send me an email with the evidence.

Patients, I have a message for you too.  I know some of you are very ill. I know some of you are kinda-sorta ill. I have respect for you all — you’re choosing one of the safest therapeutically active plants known to humankind.

My message for patients is just a reminder — that the best way to ensure high quality, low prices, and uninterrupted availability of cannabis is to make it legal for all adults, regulated in a manner similar to how we treat beer. Cannabis is definitely not the “same as” beer, but the regulatory model is one we all understand. Stores that check ID, microbrewery licenses, homebrew, and so forth. Please keep focused on that as the end goal, not some quasi-pharmaceutical catastrophe.

My message for everyone else is to be encouraged — the tide continues to turn our direction. American society is flipping the switch. Soon, more and more mainstream political candidates will come out in favor of regulating cannabis for all adults. I swear it’s an election-winner, if only some Dem (or Repub) had the guts to come out and declare their support. More on that later this month.

Events!

The big one coming up is the MMGA Symposium in Helena on Oct 10th and 11th. It’s FREE, this coming Sunday and Monday, featuring one of the federal government’s medical marijuana patients (Irv Rosenfeld), and lots of medical and legal info. I’ll be there, and would like to see you. Arguably, the MMGA is the biggest, strongest, most public pro-medical-marijuana group in Montana right now, so please come out and see what they’re doing.

And now, the news…

Montana Marijuana News

More News You Can Use

As always, if you write a letter to the editor in support of humans’ right to cannabis that gets published online, send us the link and your physical address, and we’ll send you some goodies.

Kindly.

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Posted in Elections, Events, Medical Marijuana, Montana, Newsletter, Tax & Regulate

Montana NORML Newsletter – Many Thanks, Prop 19, Story Searchers and the News

September 24th, 2010

Activists and friends,

First, a huge thank you:

THANK YOU!

Last week, I asked for donations to be forwarded on to the folks at Yes on 19, the group that’s working to make cannabis legal for adults in California. And some of you stood up and donated!

While Prop 19 isn’t perfect, it’s the best chance we have any time soon to completely remove the threat of arrest for American adults growing and consuming their own marijuana! The idea is, once California ends cannabis prohibition, other states won’t be far behind.

I’ll tell you what — to sweeten the pot, I’ll personally match your Paypal donations received by Montana NORML before Oct 1st, up to $500.

Jack Herer used to say something like, “Cannabis won’t re-legalize itself. Until cannabis consumers are willing to 1) vote, and 2) give 20 minutes or $20 to reform, it just won’t happen.”

So here’s a moment to consider stepping up and contributing. We’re hoping to raise $1000 by next Thursday. Can you throw in $4.20 via PayPal?

Onwards… we’ve had two professional production companies separately contact us requesting contact info for Montana marijuana businesses.  Between the two companies, they’ve worked on programs with which you might be familiar, including Mythbusters, History Detectives, and many more. They’re both looking for stories that include “a fun family or tight knit staff with big personalities and a passion for the business“.

Is that you? Ready for your “5 minutes of fame”? Here’s who to call:

  • Isham Randolph @ Beyond Productions: 202.315.8141
  • Jason Watt @ Lion TV: 212-206-8633 x3887

A statewide event you may want to consider is the Montana Medical Growers Association Annual Symposium on Oct 10-11. We’ll be there, and hopefully have a chance to express our message to the group as well. I should know by next week.

And now, the news…

Montana Marijuana News

Onwards and upwards.

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Posted in Events, Medical Marijuana, Montana, Newsletter, Prohibition

Montana NORML Newsletter – Prop 19, National NORML Conference and the News

September 17th, 2010

Patriots,

I’ve never been more sure that working to make marijuana legal for all responsible adults is a just and noble cause. I spent part of the last week in Portland Oregon, at the 2010 National NORML Conference. Here’s a very brief peek at what I learned:

First, as most of you know, California voters will decide whether to pass Prop 19 in about six weeks. If it passes, marijuana would be legal for adults 21+ to grow and possess and consume. There are more details, but that’s the core element you need to understand.

The fact that it’s on the ballot and polling at just about 50% approval right now is already a great success. Mainstream society is really talking about and seriously considering ending marijuana prohibition. We’re almost there.

Unfortunately, some groups working to defeat the initiative — not just the law enforcement and the booze industries, but also groups that consider themselves marijuana activists. Some commercial growers.  Some “I gots mine” medical marijuana people. And some pie-in-the-sky ‘treat maryjane like dandelions’ folks.

Prop 19 ain’t perfect. How could it be perfect, for all of us? But it stops the arrest of overwise law-abiding adults for growing their own. That’s a policy worth supporting! We can continue to make improvements, but with nearly a million people arrested for cannabis nationwide last year (as usual),  the sooner we can stop the insanity, the better.

In the end, the victory or defeat of Prop 19 will likely come down to who has the most cash for ads — the supporters or the opponents? So, now, I’m asking each of you to make a donation to Montana NORML before Oct 1st. We’ll send donations received between now and then to the campaign in California. Donate $4.20, or $42, or $420, today.  Visit any page on the Montana NORML website and click the yellow donate button on the right-hand side. Pool spare couch change with your friends. Make a Montana NORML deposit at Missoula Federal Credit Union. Raid your 401k (just kidding). Please help us to reach our goal of $1000 by October 1st  (which is do-able, if YOU donate just $4.20!) (And of course, if you’d prefer the money stayed with Montana NORML to support our work to make marijuana legal for Montana adults, just let us know.)

The other presentation in Portland that made a big impact on me was about whether medical marijuana will actually make it harder to make cannabis legal for all grownups. I’ve wondered the same thing, but this presentation gave me, and now you, the tools to ensure that doesn’t happen. A few quick recollections:

  • Stop calling it “medicine”. Medicine isn’t social, medicine isn’t advertised by price, medicine isn’t sold with sex appeal, and medicine isn’t cooler when it’s big (big buds, big joints, big bongs). Of course cannabis has incredible medical benefits. But that doesn’t mean we should treat it like Codeine and Prozac. Call it an “herbal supplement” maybe.
  • Medical marijuana laws treat patients like second-class citizens, through price gouging and being forced to jump through bureaucratic hoops as a last resort, rather than as a readily accessible and safest first option.
  • Stop agreeing that there is “abuse” of the medical marijuana law. The card-carrying “grinning 20-somethings”, as I’ve called them, are simply demonstrating their eagerness to comply with the law. They would rather be a part of a legal regulated system than the criminal black market.  That’s just being a good citizen!
  • Medical marijuana is a “trial period” for legalization. Despite the media histrionics, we are discovering that society does not collapse when 25,000 people are exempt from arrest for marijuana possession. Let’s take the next step.
  • Adults shouldn’t need permission from a doctor to use one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to humankind. It’s less addictive than caffeine and less toxic than aspirin.

Some of the above might ruffle some feathers. But when we have Truth, Justice, and Liberty on our side, we need to keep speaking out.

Next week, I’ll be back to encouraging you to register to vote, learn who’s running to represent YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, and so forth. But for now, the news:

Montana Marijuana News

Bonus News

Kindest regards.

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Posted in Events, Medical Marijuana, Montana, Prohibition, Tax & Regulate