“We have patients that we have had for over a year now . who can give us two or three extra plants to get us started again,” he said. “We’re still going to take care of our patients.”

But the business will first have to fix lights and heaters that were damaged in the raid, he said.

Mark Frisbie, a Great Falls attorney who has represented medical marijuana providers, said he would advise against medical marijuana businesses that were raided to restart operations, even though he believes the federal raids were wrong.

“They’re gambling with their freedom. I wouldn’t want them to do that — what if they came and got busted again?” Frisbie said.

Frisbie cited a federal statute that says federal law does not trump state law unless there is a positive conflict between the two laws. Because the Controlled Substance Act deals with recreational use and medical marijuana laws are for medical usage, Frisbie said he believes there is no conflict to justify the raids.

But, he added, “If (the U.S. attorney has) evidence selling to non-patients or transporting marijuana across state lines, they’re going to be screwed. That will firmly take it out of the state law and put it into the federal law.”





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