We are Montanans! Aren’t we? I’ve grown up in this state. My Papa moved us here 34 years ago, when I was 10. I have since raised my family here. I own horses, I belong to my local rodeo club. I own property. I am a part of my community, I chaired the blood drive for 12 years. I am a businesswoman. I am a business owner. I am a voter. I am a Republican. I fly my US flag EVERY day. I am a Montanan. A very proud one at that. Until 11 weeks ago. Eleven weeks ago I became very disappointed, and disgusted. As I stand in our state capitol today and look around our great statehouse I wonder “What in the HELL has happened to our state and the folks we have elected to govern it?” I am a Medical Cannabis patient. That should answer a few questions. I am NOT a criminal. I would like to make that point quite clear. I have a debilitating condition that cost me my job. My state government job. I loved working for our great state, and I miss it. Alas, that same job I loved became a work injury, and a nasty booger of one at that. It was almost 13 months ago I lost my job. I have been a medical cannabis patient for almost 2 years now. Back when I got my certification I had to wait 4 months for a doctor appointment. Medical records were required. My exam was extensive, and my office visit lasted all morning, with an educational talk performed by the physician for half an hour with the group of 4 of us before we could leave. My certification was professionally and respectfully done with education and compassion. Shortly after I got my certification, I saw the “traveling circus shows” start up across my great state. I watched in horror, as I saw the newspapers unfold with the pictures of the abuse and exploitation of our compassionate law. “No! Stop! Don’t!!!!!” I yelled at my computer monitor from Lincoln. Patients will suffer........it was all I could think. I despised that guy......he was blatantly hurting Montanans, and in NO WAY understanding in any way shape or form how or why. Why is that do you ask? I say - he is not Montanan, so he doesn’t understand us. We are private, conservative folk who appreciate personal freedoms. Personal freedoms that are not abused. I apologized for this behavior. I drove to Great Falls when they were having their moratorium meetings and publicly apologized for behavior not mine. “He is not “we”!” I testified. I attended the subcommittee hearings in August. I again apologized and begged “Make it Montana! KEEP it Montana! Help us!” I was in Colorado in both November and December where I witnessed their medical cannabis

law first hand. When I came home - I begged Mark Long to not make Montana patients have to suffer under such a system. It was such a “Weedslinger” atmosphere - they had no idea what strain worked for what pain. They were selling buggy plants to patients. They had simply legalized the black market, no medical records were being kept. There was no quality control, no safety measures. Montana caregivers I know across the state do NOT behave like Colorado caregivers I witnessed in lower downtown Denver. They care very deeply for their patients, and work hard to meet their needs and find what works for them. They are your fellow Montanans folks! Many displaced by the fallout of the construction industry! Many have turned to this to avoid public programs and save their mortgages and homes. Many simply because they care, and have learned the truth about Cannabis as medicine. Many are patients themselves. Look at the patients - YOUR fellow Montanans. They have taken advantage of one thing this great state prides itself on, and has for years. Pioneering, and personal freedoms. Trust. Community. Safety and Safe access. Their fellow Montanan looking out for them in their time of need. Now- fast forward 11 weeks into the 62nd Legislative Session. Our Legislature has made into law a Code of the West they don’t currently practice, as the DEA Raids commence upon their fellow Montanans. REPUBLICAN LEADERS of my own GOP party have not stepped forward to scream about States Rights! “What in the F%$K!!!” is all that screams through my mind these days. I have completely witnessed the ultimate betrayal. My own elected officials see all of us as criminals. I am no longer a Montanan to them, to be served and protected. They choose not to read or learn any of the science or fact they are presented with. Our EDUCATED society is today being governed by social stigma, rather than science and fact. Lies have run rampant on the floors of our great statehouse, and continue to be propagated by fools. Bills were presented over the past three legislative sessions, and nothing was done regarding medical cannabis. Now - just take it away?!?! What happened to looking out for each other? What happened to community? What happened to respect? Should the entire medical cannabis population in Montana be held responsible for the very small percentage who abuse it? Why can’t we all work TOGETHER to protect Montana patients? Protect Montana caregivers and business owners. Without them - patients will have to go to the black market and cartel. The black market and cartel will load the trucks and hit the border as Montana law enforcement will be too busy arresting Montanans. Quite a freakin pickle we have gotten into here - and in the end - it will be the patients who suffer. The patients and our children, as the black market has no care or concern who they sell to. They’ll just be happy to have their market back..... Hiedi Handford

Montana Connect MagazinePatients Out of Timewww.medicalcannabis.comhiedi@mtconnectmagazine.comPO Box 432Lincoln, MT 59639406-594-7932