Montana publishes proposed rules for the future cannabis marketplace |

Regulators in Montana released a set of proposed rules for the state’s upcoming recreational marijuana market last week, and cannabis advocates are looking forward to getting started.

Pot sales for adults 21 and older are slated to begin on New Years Day in Big Sky Country, which means the clock is ticking for the Montana Treasury Department to set regulations for the would-be cannabis companies.

“The deadlines are aggressive,” said Kristan Barbour, administrator of the Department of Revenue’s cannabis control division, as quoted by local television station KTVH. “Really, the rules are our biggest challenge.”

The Ministry of Finance will hold a public hearing in the capital, Helena, on November 16 to consider the adoption of the proposed rules.

“Our focus was really on being business friendly and trying to work with the industry in a way that the rules could be adapted to their current business structure and they could evolve with little effort,” Barbour told KTVH.

Voters in Montana passed a proposal to legalize adult marijuana when they voted last year, one of four states that will vote to end the cannabis ban in the 2020 election. (Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota were the others).

In the spring, Montana lawmakers passed a bill to implement the voter-approved Legal Pot program that Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed in mid-May.

The law, known as House Bill 701, “implements and regulates the recreational marijuana program that voters voted through last year and funds a drug abuse prevention program that the new governor has been running since his early days championed in office, ”reported The Daily Montanan at the time.

In a statement following the signing of the bill, Gianforte campaigned for the HEART Fund, which generates revenue from the adult cannabis program to fund drug abuse treatment. He stands behind this organization and believes that they play a huge role in the future of legalization in the state.

“From the beginning it was clear to me that we had to find more resources to fight the drug epidemic that is devastating our communities,” said Gianforte at the time. “The HEART Fund finances a full continuum of addiction prevention and treatment programs for communities and will provide new support to miners who want to get clean, sober and healthy.”

The proposed rules, presented last week by the State Treasury Department, cover 15 different sections related to the implementation of the program: license, application and renewal fees; Marijuana maker licenses; Marijuana grower licenses; Marijuana pharmacy licenses; Licenses for marijuana vans; combined use licenses; Laboratory licenses for marijuana testing; Endorsement of marijuana storage facilities; Work permits; general labeling regulations; Labeling requirements for marijuana flowers; Labeling of ingestible marijuana fortified products; Labeling of non-ingestible products fortified with marijuana; Labeling regulations for marijuana concentrates and extracts and packaging requirements.

Montana voters first legalized medical marijuana treatment in 2004. They approved the recreational pot measure in 2020 with 57 percent support.

And for certain Montana voters, there are even more pot-related questions on the ballot this year. According to the KTVH, “Voters in Missoula and Yellowstone Counties could approve a 3 percent local option tax on recreational sales, medical sales, or both,” while voters “will vote in Billings on whether or not to allow or prohibit adult marijuana dispensaries within city limits “. . “

As reported by the Daily Montanan, the new law allows half of the districts that approved last year’s voting initiative “to have recreational opportunities at their borders by default, while voters in the other half of the districts must take positive action.” Bringing recreational marijuana within its limits, if so desired. “