on February 29, 2016
Helena's Lionheart Caregiving was starting to get crowded late Thursday afternoon as worried patients looked to stock up on as much marijuana as they could while they could.
Lionheart manager Brandon Conroy expected that trend to continue through Monday, provided he's still allowed to operate.
Earlier that day, the Montana Supreme Court filed a ruling limiting commercial sales of medical marijuana. Part of the ruling limits marijuana providers to three patients each.
"Nothing that I've seen is very specific about when this is going to take effect," Conroy said Thursday. "I'm not even sure if I'm breaking the law right now."
Conroy said he was certain the decision would put Lionheart out of business.
Those dispensaries that survive the ruling, he said, may be those most willing to bend the rules -- either by funneling more marijuana into fewer patients or redirecting those patients into larger, more consolidated dispensaries.
Tracy Parker, one of Lionheart's roughly 100 patients, didn't know how he was going to keep getting his medicine in the wake of the ruling.
The chronic pain sufferer said all he knows is he doesn't want to go back on prescription painkillers.
"I don't even want to think about that," Parker said, "but now I'm scared I'm going to have to."
The mood was similarly somber a few miles east at Montana Buds, which has several dispensaries around the state.
But business remained brisk.
Manager Tony Meyer said he'd received 30 phone calls about the ruling in the past hour, most from patients he fears will soon have to move out of state to fill their prescriptions.
"It's more of a bummer to patients than to us," Meyer said. "They're the ones losing out.
"It brings a tear to my eye, because we've been in business almost eight years and they've really become family here."
Meyer estimates well over 200 Montana Buds workers will lose their jobs as a consequence of the ruling.
For now, he doesn't see any way he or anyone else will be able to stay on the payroll.
"From my understanding, this was the last shot we could have at the Supreme Court," Meyer said, "and if you look at the provider count, there's no way all patients, or even a quarter, can actually have their medicine.
"I know a lot of of people who are not happy. It's a big shock to us all."
Lionheart manager Brandon Conroy expected that trend to continue through Monday, provided he's still allowed to operate.
Earlier that day, the Montana Supreme Court filed a ruling limiting commercial sales of medical marijuana. Part of the ruling limits marijuana providers to three patients each.
"Nothing that I've seen is very specific about when this is going to take effect," Conroy said Thursday. "I'm not even sure if I'm breaking the law right now."
Conroy said he was certain the decision would put Lionheart out of business.
Those dispensaries that survive the ruling, he said, may be those most willing to bend the rules -- either by funneling more marijuana into fewer patients or redirecting those patients into larger, more consolidated dispensaries.
Tracy Parker, one of Lionheart's roughly 100 patients, didn't know how he was going to keep getting his medicine in the wake of the ruling.
The chronic pain sufferer said all he knows is he doesn't want to go back on prescription painkillers.
"I don't even want to think about that," Parker said, "but now I'm scared I'm going to have to."
The mood was similarly somber a few miles east at Montana Buds, which has several dispensaries around the state.
But business remained brisk.
Manager Tony Meyer said he'd received 30 phone calls about the ruling in the past hour, most from patients he fears will soon have to move out of state to fill their prescriptions.
"It's more of a bummer to patients than to us," Meyer said. "They're the ones losing out.
"It brings a tear to my eye, because we've been in business almost eight years and they've really become family here."
Meyer estimates well over 200 Montana Buds workers will lose their jobs as a consequence of the ruling.
For now, he doesn't see any way he or anyone else will be able to stay on the payroll.
"From my understanding, this was the last shot we could have at the Supreme Court," Meyer said, "and if you look at the provider count, there's no way all patients, or even a quarter, can actually have their medicine.
"I know a lot of of people who are not happy. It's a big shock to us all."
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