"It was sold to the public as an older person dying of cancer being allowed some relief, and it ended up with a 22-year-old smoking on the corner," he said. "That's not what people voted for."

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However, some other senators argued against repeal.

"I believe repeal is about defying the will of Montana voters," said Sen. Anders Blewett, D-Great Falls. "It's about taking medications away from seriously ill patients."

Vincent said Montana has "a huge mess on our hands," with plenty of residents angry that what they voted on in 2004 turned out to be much different than what they thought.

He said he talked to a 23-year-old woman with epilepsy who had to take powerful prescription drugs that prevented her from being "a normal functioning person." Now, she is able to live a normal life by making butter with a marijuana tincture that she puts on her bread and pancakes in the morning and has no side effects, Vincent said.

Vincent said he couldn't look in the woman's face and tell her she had to go back to what she had done before. Instead, he said the committee can fix the law and impose some strict regulations.