Moving forward with legalization of adult-use marijuana

During the 2020 election, voters in House District 92 voted to legalize the sale of adult-use marijuana in Montana. Although the Libertarian in me supported legalization, I had not campaigned for or against the initiative, knowing that if approved, it would require legislation as the language in the initiative made it vulnerable to being overturned in court.

During the 2021 Legislative session, I authored House Bill 701 (HB701). It passed with large bipartisan majorities and allowed for the sale of adult-use marijuana in Montana. Sales started at the beginning of this year.

Since the law took effect we have been tracking the new system. Now that the system has been up and running for six months, we have a decent enough sample size for a quick update.

First, all the credit in the world goes to the Department of Revenue which was tasked in HB701 with building the infrastructure for the system practically from scratch and administering its launch. These folks went above and beyond to make sure that everything was working in the run up to the launch, they listened to input from communities and from the industry to fine tune several important parts of the launch and the launch went smoother than we thought it would. As someone who is quick to criticize government bureaucracy when it does its job poorly, this was an example of government doing its job and doing it well.

Second, during the session, we had many discussions as to whether our revenue estimates for the new industry would be accurate. Six months in I am happy to report that revenue is on track to meet our estimates. This means significant funding for substance abuse treatment in Montana. It means funding for law enforcement and property tax relief.

Obviously, six months doesn't tell the entire tale of implementation of adult-use sales here in Montana. We will continue gathering data on the program and if re-elected to continue serving as your representative, I will be bringing a second "HB701" to improve the system.

So far, the people voted for legalization, we got legalization done, the system is working well, the concerns that some of my friends in the legislature expressed during the session have yet to materialize and the law now treats adult-use marijuana closer to the way it treats alcohol, which it always should have.

Thank you for allowing me to serve as your representative. If you ever have any questions you can call/text me at 406-531-1775 or email me at MikeforMontana@gmail.com