Medical marijuana businesses in Yellowstone County

Posted: Feb 9, 2010 5:40 PM by Amanda Venegas
Updated: Feb 9, 2010 5:40 PM

Medical marijuana businesses in Billings

BILLINGS - In Yellowstone County, leaders are taking a different approach to medical marijuana businesses. In the meantime, while they figure out if they need to regulate businesses, storefronts are beginning to pop up across the Magic City.

In 2004, 60 percent of Yellowstone County residents said yes to legalizing medical marijuana. Since that time, the number of patients and caregivers have grown substantially.

"Right now, the gold rush is on getting new patients. If you had just seen a doctor and have your medical marijuana recommendation in your hand, you're a value to me as a caregiver, because that's another six plants I can put in the ground," Mark Higgins, owner of Billings Medical Marijuana.

In 2009, Yellowstone County was rated as the fifth highest county in the state when it came to the amount of card-carrying patients and caregivers. About 531 people were recorded as patients and 144 people as caregivers.

Dr. Ed Stickney is a retired physician in Billings who has written about 200 recommendations to people in the last four year.

"There's sort of a bottomless pit, in terms of the need," Stickney said.

Dr. Stickney says he sees many people who want to turn away from addictive opiates like Oxycontin to a safer drug.

"They will say to me, and I'm almost quoting here, 'it doesn't completely take away my pain, but the pain no longer rules my life,'" Stickney said.

With such a strong demand, more and more caregivers are moving their businesses from home to a storefront on main street. Many patients, who believe in the product's effects, are becoming caregivers and business-owners like Rich Abromeit, of Montana Advanced Caregivers.

"They call it the gateway drug, it's been referred that for the past ten, twelve years. I believe that in a sense, but I also believe it's the gateway drug out," Abromeit said.

He says he's seen first-hand how medicinal marijuana can change a person's life. It's that kind of effect that has many patients turning away from their pharmacies and headed to caregivers, who are growing faster than their plants. Although many residents may feel uneasy about the town becoming littered with these shops, caregivers have a different take.

"Realize that this is Montana and it is not California, the laws are completely different, much more restrictive," Abromeit said.

"We're not trying to create a California here. We're trying just to just allow patients to receive their medicine in a fashion that makes it easily accessible for them," Higgins said.

Montana Advanced Caregivers owner Jason Smith says his company only sells marijuana to their customers.

"If we could sell to anybody with a card, we would run out immediately," Smith said.

But owners say, by allowing their businesses to legally operate within the city, they believe they are preventing patients from turning to the black market. And now, the Billings city council is dealing with how to regulate this businesses.

"We're not bringing an industry to Billings, obviously marijuana has been here. What we're doing is addressing the citizens initiative that they passed and try to figure out, was this the intent that they had and if so how do we deal with it in our community," Council member Denis Pitman said.

For now, the city is entering unchartered waters, while these stores pop up on the business scene.

At last count, the city of Billings had issued 21 business licenses to medical marijuana growers.