Jason Christ's medical marijuana business thrives as most others close

It’s been a rough few months for Montana’s medical marijuana industry. Some businesses got hit with federal raids in March. Others shut down after an exacting new state law went into effect in July.

Some of those who stayed in business destroyed most of their plants. Nearly all of the state’s registered caregivers – now termed providers – dropped from the rolls, as did nearly one cardholder in five.

The situation was the focus of a conference in Helena last week, “Medical Marijuana: Thoughtful Questions, Responsible Answers,” that brought together members of the industry, law enforcement and legislators. Noticeable by his absence was Jason Christ of Missoula, once one of the medical marijuana industry’s most outspoken – and, some say, outrageous – advocates.

But in the midst of the fallout, Christ may be having the last laugh.

Christ once claimed credit for the nearly tenfold increase in medical marijuana cardholders in a 15-month period, and is blamed by many for the backlash against Montana’s 2004 voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana.

In a recent legal filing, Christ referred to that view, saying he’s been portrayed as having

“ ‘ruined’ medical marijuana for the rest of America.” Nonetheless, despite a tangle of civil cases involving Christ and his business, he’s maneuvered largely unscathed through medical marijuana’s legal maze.

That’s because Christ’s business doesn’t grow marijuana, nor provide it. The company that started off as Montana Caregivers Network and that has morphed through a number of names into Care+ simply arranges appointments for would-be patients with doctors who can examine them and, if they see fit, write recommendations for medical marijuana. He runs a similar business in Arizona.

“What Mr. Christ apparently is doing is organizing these clinics. … Nobody in the state has jurisdiction over the clinics,” said Lavelle Potter, compliance specialist for the state Board of Medical Examiners.

While legal, the practice skirts the intention of state legislators who spent more than a year crafting curbs on a program that ballooned after a 2009 U.S. Justice Department memo saying the feds wouldn’t prosecute people complying with state medical marijuana laws.

The new Montana law, approved by overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate and enacted without Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s signature, would have spurred an automatic review by the state for any physician recommending medical marijuana for more than 25 patients in a year. However, that provision was among several blocked by a Helena district judge the day before the new law went into effect.

Missoula Rep. Diane Sands is no fan of the new law, or of the resulting confusion. Nor is she a fan of Christ’s business.

“He’s such a devious and smart little guy in figuring out ways around any requirements,” said Sands, D-Missoula. “It is frustrating to watch the intentional disregard for the concern by elected officials for reasonable health care priorities to ensure that people accessing legal medicine have the quality of heath care they deserve.”

Christ made for an easy target, what with his attention-grabbing tactics like the “cannabis caravans” that signed up hundreds of patients at a pop, a website that as recently as July promised “we are seeing patients for their mmj cards by the hundreds,” and a series of interviews during which he made a point of smoking the pot he says he uses for intestinal disorders and hemorrhoids.

But he’s assumed a much lower profile in the last few months. While his website still touts traveling clinics and tele-clinics, there is no mention of marijuana. Care+, it says, offers “an herbal remedy,” as well as yoga, lifestyle changes and weight-loss programs.

Instead of giving interviews, Christ recently sought to bar public access to court proceedings and records in a lawsuit and also a criminal case involving an intimidation charge against him.

Christ did not respond by press time Saturday to telephone and email requests seeking comment for this story.

In the meantime, those in the Montana industry have refocused their wrath on the federal government, castigating what they see as its whiplash turnaround from 2009.

Federal offices executed search warrants at 26 sites around Montana in March, on the same day as a legislative debate over medical marijuana law. Other states with medical marijuana laws also saw raids, but Montana was the hardest hit, said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the national Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group.

“States that have worked out programs and that were able to establish clear guidelines for their medical marijuana industries don’t see raids,” he said.

Kevin Kerr of the Montana Cannabis and Hemp Foundation, a downtown Missoula dispensary, said he blames both the federal and state governments for the mess that is medical marijuana policy in Montana today. The feds, because the raids seemed to counter their 2009 memo, he said. And the state because this year’s new law seemed to circumvent the will of the voters who approved marijuana for medicinal use in 2004.