Two controversial cannabis bills in Montana appear to be dead for the session—one that would have set a 15 percent THC limit on all marijuana products and another that would have required adults to obtain a $200 license each year to legally use recreational cannabis.
The THC cap bill was initially tabled Saturday in committee on an 11–1 vote. An effort on the Senate floor later in the day to revive the measure and move it to a different committee failed on a 23–27 vote.
If approved, that bill—SB 433, from Sen. Greg Hertz (R)—would have set a 15 percent limit on total THC in all non-medical marijuana products. The bill would clarify that the term “total THC”, which includes several forms of THC such as delta-9 THC and THC-A, also encompasses THCP.
Montana’s state law caps the THC in marijuana flowers at 35 percent. Other products, however, are exempt from this limit. In most adult-use states, flower contains anywhere between 10 and 30% THC.
SB 255 was another measure by Hertz that had been scheduled for hearings in a Hertz committee last week, but it appears the proposal has now been dropped. Hertz responded to a question from MEDCAN24 in the past by simply saying: “SB 255 was canceled.” Since then, he has not replied to numerous follow-ups.
The proposal called for adults to purchase a license worth $200 every year in order to be able to consume marijuana legally. Montana voters approved legalizing adult use in 2020. The state Cannabis Control Division would issue ID cards and enroll adults in the program by charging them a fee every year.
Adults could purchase marijuana at licensed stores for 60 days after applying for the card. The division can cancel their temporary marijuana card if the fees are not paid by the 60-day window.
The text of SB 255 said that a “marijuana cardholder shall keep the individual’s marijuana identification card in the individual’s immediate possession at all times. A valid photo identification and marijuana identification cards must be presented upon demand to a city or municipal court judge or justice of the Peace.
Advocates from groups such as Marijuana Policy Project and NORML have strongly opposed both bills and encouraged supporters to speak up and contact their legislators and object.
Karen O’Keefe’s Director of State Policies at MPP told MEDCAN24 Tuesday that voter outrage had killed the bills. These bills were deeply incompatible with the Montana initiative that 57 percent Montana voters approved just five years earlier.
O’Keefe referred to both bills as part of “a Reefer Madness 2.0” that’s trying “to whittle down cannabis freedoms and, in some cases, completely repeal them.”
Both of Sen. Hertz’s bills are essentially repeals by backdoor,” said she. The first bill banned virtually all cannabis-related products, while the second would have criminalized adult cannabis users who did not pay the $200 a year for government tracking. SB 443 could have destroyed the legal market, and sent consumers to an unregulated underground market.
MPP told lawmakers, in a written statement that no state had set THC restrictions as low as SB 443,
It states: “The minimum limit for flower (excluding concentrates and vape cartridges), in every state, is 30%. For the maximum cap on concentrated products (excluding Vape Cartridges), it is 60%.” Most states don’t have any cap.
Jackson Kajander (a marijuana cultivator) told lawmakers during a hearing held last week that it took him many years to develop and grow his genetic database of cannabis strains, which would be destroyed if legislation limiting THC to 15 percent is passed.
I don’t currently grow strains below 20 percent THC. He said it would be difficult to switch to a genetic library with a 15 percent THC or less. “It takes 12-18 months for a strain to get fully vetted before it is deemed a good one.”
Evan Kajander Kajander replied that if senators ask how long it will take to “drawdown the library” and lower marijuana’s THC to 15 percent, replacing the products may take years.
The library would never be reduced. “The library would go away, and it would have to be rebuilt from scratch,” explained he. It is impossible to turn a 25% potency plant into a 12 percent potency. [percent]”We would need to begin from the beginning.”
NORML, meanwhile said that in written testimonies, the THC cap “seeks fundamentally to alter the voter-approved legalization of adult marijuana use law” by the state.
It will not reduce the demand of consumers for these products if adults are prohibited from buying them at state-licensed stores. Rather, it will encourage consumers to seek out higher-THC products from the unregulated market,” NORML said. The production of these drugs will be moved exclusively underground. The primary purpose of legalization is to allow consumers to access lab-tested and pure products aboveground.
At the time, several commenters noted that the bill did not include a fiscal analysis. This meant that legislators could ignore revenue losses that may result if the THC cap pushes users into the illicit cannabis market. MPP stated in their testimony that Montana received more than $50,000,000 in tax revenue in 2023 from the legalization of cannabis.
Separately lawmakers also consider SB 307 from Sen. Tom McGillvray. The measure eliminates marijuana taxes that currently go to the Montana Board of Crime Control, fish and wildlife management funds and public space. The state would instead receive more money for its general fund and the HEART Fund (Healing and Ending Addiction through Treatment and Recovery).
Earlier this year, a coalition of conservation groups raised concerns about the governor’s office and state lawmakers reallocating the “historic investment” in the outdoors that cannabis revenue represents in Montana.
A poll finds that two out of three marijuana consumers are buying less cannabis due to inflation.
Side Pocket Images. Image courtesy Chris Wallis.