Helena Independent Record, 02 Feb 2013 – Medical Marijuana Grower Chris Williams Was Sentenced Friday to a Mandatory Five Years on a Federal Gun Charge, and Time Served on a Marijuana Charge. MISSOULA – Calling certain mandatory minimum sentences "unfair and absurd," a federal judge Friday sentenced medical marijuana grower Chris Williams to five years in prison the least amount mandated for his federal gun conviction.

DrugSense

The Billings Gazette, 31 Jan 2013 – Missoula MT. – A last-minute flurry of activity surrounding the case of convicted medical marijuana grower Chris Williams did not halt Williams’ scheduled sentencing in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Friday. On Thursday afternoon, federal Judge Dana Christensen ordered that a sentencing memorandum, dated Monday, from an Ohio State University law professor would not be given the weight of an official memorandum.

Helena Independent Record, 26 Jan 2013 – BUTTE — The county superintendent of schools heard testimony Friday in the case of a former Butte High student facing felony drug charges who has appealed his expulsion. Kaedon Caprara, who according to court documents distributed marijuana stolen from a local marijuana dispensary to Butte High students, was treated differently than other students who have broken the district’s drug policy, and therefore was wrongfully expelled, his lawyer Shawn Johnson argued before county superintendent of schools Cathy Maloney on Friday.

Ravalli Republic, 16 Jan 2013 – Lori Burnam was never one to seek the limelight. But the Hamilton woman’s advocacy for medical marijuana in Montana propelled her to the forefront of a challenge to the state’s new, more restrictive marijuana law.

Chicago Sun-Times, 16 Jan 2013 – HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Lori Burnam, a Hamilton woman with lung cancer who became the face of medical marijuana advocacy in Montana, has died at age 66. Ms. Burnam died Thursday at her home of what the medical examiner determined was natural causes, said Chris Lindsey, president of an advocacy group that Ms. Burnam testified for in challenging a restrictive marijuana law.

DrugSense

DrugSense

Great Falls Tribune, 11 Jan 2013 – Regarding Ben Forsyth’s Jan. 5 op-ed: If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, it’s a failure. The U.S. has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign.

DrugSense