Since then, Montana’s number of medical marijuana cardholders has increased by nearly 20,000. Various traveling “clinics” have criss-crossed the state, sometimes issuing hundreds of cards in a single day.

Sabet said the Justice Department memo has been “widely misinterpreted” by the media and proponents of legalizing marijuana, and that it does not give marijuana growers or suppliers a blank check to produce pot in states with medical marijuana programs.

“If you actually read the memo, it’s very sensible,” he said. “(But) it didn’t take more than a week for us to put out our own clarifying statement: That people cannot hide behind medical marijuana as a guise for legalization.”

The memo, penned by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden last October, says federal prosecutors shouldn’t focus on medical marijuana patients or caregivers who are “in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state law.”

However, it also says this recommendation does not legalize marijuana in these states, provide any legal defense to violation of federal drug laws, or protect those using medical marijuana laws “as a pretext for the production or distribution of marijuana for purposes not authorized by state law.”