Firebomb thrown into medical marijuana business on day of important vote by City Council

Firebomb thrown at marijuana businesses in Montana

HELENA, Mont. — Someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of a Billings medical marijuana business early Monday and spray-painted “NOT IN OUR TOWN” on its storefront, the second such act in as many days, authorities said.

The attempted arsons come as the Billings City Council was scheduled to vote Monday night on whether to place a six-month moratorium on new medical marijuana businesses. The council was still listening to public comment late Monday night.

A rock was used to break the glass of Montana Therapeutics at 4:30 a.m. Monday, and a beer bottle filled with gasoline was lit and thrown inside, Billings police Sgt. Kevin Iffland said. A passer-by reported the fire.

Fire crews quickly put out the small blaze, Deputy Fire Marshal Trevor Schilling said.

A day earlier, at about 5 a.m., surveillance video showed two young men spray-painting “NOT IN OUR TOWN” on the front of Big Sky Patient Care, and then throw a rock through the front door followed by a flaming bottle, Big Sky owner David Couch said.

Nobody was injured in either instance.

Trevor McFarren, co-owner of Montana Therapeutics, said his business provides medical marijuana for about 50 people and has never had a problem, a complaint or even a bad phone call since opening in January, he said.

McFarren said he believes Monday’s council vote is linked to the attack that he estimated caused $2,500 in damage.

“I’m sure they’re trying to fuel the fire about (the vote),” he said. “It’s more of an attack on the community than anything.”

Couch also said he has not had any complaints since his business opened in April. He declined to say how many patients Big Sky has.

“If anything good comes out of this, it will probably be a desire for more education in the general public,” he said.

Police have no suspects, Iffland said. Surveillance video may have captured what happened, but the building’s owners do not want to release the video to police until they speak to their attorney, Iffland said.

Detectives were investigating whether the acts were done by opponents of medical marijuana businesses ahead of the council’s vote or by business rivals, Iffland said.

The medical marijuana trade has boomed in Montana since the Obama administration last year said it would not prosecute medical marijuana cases. The state has approximately 15,000 patients — up from 800 in 2008 — and about 5,000 registered “caregivers” providing them with medical marijuana, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Montana is different from other states in that it has no medical marijuana dispensaries. Instead, each patient is required to designate a caregiver who provides that patient with medical pot.

The growth has exposed holes in the state medical marijuana law that was passed by ballot initiative in 2004, and the state Legislature is hearing recommendations from law enforcement, cities, schools and the medical marijuana community on changes.

Meanwhile, Montana’s cities and towns are testing different ways to deal with commercial growers. Some have banned them from their city limits; others are seeking ways to regulate them like other businesses. Several cities have imposed temporary moratoriums on new businesses, such as the one Billings’ leaders are considering, while they figure out a permanent solution.

Billings has issued more than 80 business licenses for medical marijuana stores. The council will decide Monday night whether to put a six-month ban on new stores opening within city limits and whether to close those operating within 1,000 feet of a school or a park.

Tom Daubert, a medical marijuana advocate who led the initiative campaign in 2004, condemned the attacks but also said some medical marijuana businesses need to act with more dignity.

Daubert says Montanans never voted for marijuana storefronts that advertise or commercial production centers in residential neighborhoods.

“The law needs to be modernized, with regulation and oversight designed to prevent some of the undignified and unprofessional behavior we are seeing,” he said in a statement through his organization, Patients and Families United.