Medical - Explore Big Sky

shady operators – no pun intended. [Some are]
interpreting the law more liberally than they
should.” Singer foresees facilities inspections,
stricter rules for card acquisition, steep taxes
and growers’ dues.
Governor Schweitzer has not stated outright
his position on a repeal, and a detailed reform
bill may be difficult to pass through the Senate
and House. If the repeal doesn’t pass and
reform is stalled, the status quo could continue.
community
A March 5 New York Times article suggested
this fast-growing business was “central to surviving
hard times…as the construction industry
and the second-home market collapsed [in
the Bozeman area].” Energy companies, gardening
supply shops, hardware stores and bakeries
profited, medical marijuana intertwined with
Montana’s economy, communities and culture.
Singer partnered his grow operation and
dispensary with local organic farmers, and
recently invested $40,000 in a solar array,
installed by a Bozeman company, Independent
Power Systems.
In the immediate Big Sky area, Big Sky Patient
Care was one of five commercial growers. Others
include Lone Peak Caregivers, Beartooth
Coalition, Medicine Ridge Wellness Center
and the Healing Center of Big Sky. There are
also a handful of smaller operations, where
cardholders legally grow up to six plants in
their own homes.
Charlie Gaillard, owner of Lone Peak Caregivers
and Director of the Bozeman Chapter of
the Montana Medical Growers Association,
still has rows of 15-gallon containers holding
bright green leafy marijuana plants growing at
his facility south of Big Sky.
“I figure the raids were on people that were
doing bad things,” Gaillard said Tuesday.
In Big Sky, the Town Center “took a proactive
approach,” said Project Manager Ryan
Hamilton. “We saw potential issues with this
type of business, so we researched what other
Western resort towns had done… It was clear it
was probably going to happen, so we wanted to
restrict rather than prohibit it.”
In neighboring West Fork, the property owner
who rents a space to the Altitude Club said
that caregiver/storefront is one of the best tenants
he’s had, “as far as paying for everything
and being upfront.”
As medical cannabis has become a legal part
of Montana communities, repeal groups have
asked: What about the children?
Big Sky parent Ty Moline said it’s a topic he’s
discussed with other parents. “How do you
address this with your kids? It’s a gray area. We
say no to drugs, but this is [state] legal. It’s all
in proper education and presentation.”
As the plot thickens, no one really knows—or
will say—where this issue will go in the next
weeks and months, but everyone, from caregivers
to federal agents, agree it’s going to be
interesting.
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one day, bozeman resident rebecca marans’s
12-pound chihuahua, Jazz, was woozy and staggering
like she was drunk. marans took Jazz to the vet,
where she began throwing up.
“We’re not into that stuff (marijuana).” the doctor
conducted a pee test and the dog was positive. “after
she was put on iV she was all right,” said marans.
cindy moreaux, veterinarian and owner of banfield
animal hospital in bozeman, weighed in on the increase
of dogs visiting the hospital after getting into
their owners medical marijuana.
“over the last year we’ve seen a dramatic increase
in what we call ‘Pot-dogs.’ dogs love to find pot,
they love the flavor and the smell,” said moreaux.
the problem is that pot ingestion can mimic other
things, as well, like anti-freeze poisoning. common
symptoms are dizziness, dilated eyes, a very
slow heart rate, and colder body temperatures. it’s
not likely that a dog will die as a result of ingesting
marijuana but the symptoms could prove fatal when
combined with other factors.
For example, a dog with a lowered body temperature
and slow heart rate that normally spends the
night outdoors stands a greater risk of exposure.
moreaux said, “a nightmare would be a dark chocolate
pot brownie,” due to dogs’ notorious sensitivity
to cocoa.
“it’s not that owners aren’t good with pot. it’s that
the dogs really love it, that’s why they can be
trained so well to find it,” said moreaux.
- ethan Gaddy
march 18, 2011 13