Pro-Marijuana Group Responds to ‘Wrong for Montana’ Lawsuit
New Approach Montana, the group behind I-190 and CI-118 which would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana to adults 21 and older, responded on Friday to a lawsuit proposed by ‘Wrong for Montana’.
Political Director for New Approach Montana, Pepper Peterson, commented on the attempt to place a lawsuit before the Montana Supreme Court by attorneys for Wrong for Montana.
“These initiatives, which were filed in January, by the way, have already been vetted and approved by the Montana Attorney General,” said Peterson. “There's (Attorney General) Tim Fox, his office, he's a Republican, and he's not known to be a friendly marijuana person either. The Attorney General's Office has vetted these and they're well written and closely follow Montana's existing law. The Attorney General's office and legislative services both reviewed them for these issues.”
Peterson claims the lawsuit is too little, too late to stop the passage of I-190 and CI-118.
“Opposition campaigns have been spreading misinformation across Montana for weeks,” he said. “This lawsuit accusation, this announcement by the lawyers is just the latest chapter in their misinformation campaign. The people in Montana will see right through it as they continue to vote yes on CI-118 and I-190.”
Peterson repeated the talking points the group has used to promote the legalization of recreational marijuana in Montana.
“Montanans know that legalizing marijuana for adults 21 and over is going to generate $236 million in new revenue over the next six years,” he said. “It will expand access to medical marijuana for patients including veterans, and stop wasting precious law enforcement time and resources arresting Montanans for marijuana possession.”
Wrong for Montana claims the initiatives as written are unconstitutional in that they attempt to allocate the revenue to various agencies, something only the legislature is legally allowed to do.
Ballots were mailed out a week ago, and thousands have already been filled out and returned.