How the heck did the pot bill win?

[illflem]

It baffles me. Any thoughts?

[htuttle]

1. When I lived there about 20 years ago...

...a lot of places in Western Montana sort of counted on cannabis cultivation as a major source of income. Especially after many of the mills closed.

Don't know if that's the case.

:shrug:

Shhhh....don't tell anybody...

More realistically, my experience with Monantans is that they trend toward libertarian.

[John Q. Citizen]

2. The medical marajuana bill won because most people in MT believe

that sick people should be able to get relief from thier illness and that doctors should be able to prescribe what they feel is in the best interests of thier patients.

The last legislature (Republican dominated 2002, our legislature meets every 2 years) passed an industrial hemp bill to allow farmers to grow hemp, and it was signed into law by Repub Gov. Martz. Why? Because Montana is a big agricultural state and people belive farmers should be able to choose what they want to produce.

This leads to the conclusion that Montanans tend to be fairly independent thinkers, which is probably correct.

Medical marijuana citizen initiatives have passed in a number of Western States and by fairly large margins. Here in MT, it passed with about 62% of the vote.

It doesn't baffle me at all. The pro-medical marijuana side had some good TV ads and the anti-medical marijuana side had almost nothing running on TV. Combine that with our fairly "independent streak" and we see the results.