Becoming a Patient in Montana

Montana issues ID cards allowing qualified patients to use cannabis legally. Patients may designate licensed providers to assist them with taking and growing their medicine.

What's Legal

A registered patient may possess up to one ounce of usable cannabis if they list a provider.

If the patient does not list a provider, they may possess up to four mature plants and four seedlings, and the amount of usable cannabis as established by rule.

A provider or marijuana-infused products provider may possess 4 mature plants, four seedlings, and 1 ounce of usable marijuana for each registered cardholder who has named the person as the registered cardholder's provider.

Eligible Conditions

cancer
glaucoma
positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome when the condition or disease results in symptoms that seriously and adversely affect the patient's health status
cachexia or wasting syndrome
severe chronic pain that is persistent pain of severe intensity that significantly interferes with daily activities as documented by the patient's treating physician
intractable nausea or vomiting
epilepsy or an intractable seizure disorder
multiple sclerosis
Crohn's disease
painful peripheral neuropathy
a central nervous system disorder resulting in chronic, painful spasticity or muscle spasms
admittance into hospice care
post-traumatic stress disorder

Application Process

To register as a medical marijuana patient in Montana, you must submit the following information on forms provided by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services.

Your doctor's recommendation. The form is available here.
A fee of $5.00 for a new application. A renewal is $5.00
The patient and other application forms are available online at the address indicated above.

Doctor

Either an medical doctor (MD) or a doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) can issue your recommendation.

Access

You, as a medical marijuana patient, can grow your own medicine. A licensed provider can also help you grow your medicine.

Consumption

Be safe. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery under the influence. Do not medicate in public or on school grounds.

Age Limits

A person under 18 can become a patient, but their parent or legal guardian must agree to act as the minor-patient's marijuana-infused products provider and control their use. There is a separate application form specifically for minor-patients.

Confidentiality

The state maintains a confidential list of persons with patient ID cards. Only the Montana department of health and human services and state and local law enforcement agencies may access the list. Law enforcement may only access the list to verify a person's patient status.

Housing

The law does not address whether you can be evicted because you are using medical marijuana, even if you have only the amount of medical marijuana allowed by law. Nor does the law directly address a patient living in subsidized housing.

Under federal law medical marijuana is not protected, therefore you might be successfully evicted if you live in federally subsidized housing, even if you follow all of Montana's medical marijuana laws.

Employment

Even if you are a registered patient, your employer may still forbid medical marijuana use in the workplace. Montana law does not require employers to accommodate employees who use medical marijuana.

If you have questions about drug testing, you should ask your personal attorney. Although the Montana medical marijuana laws do not specifically address employment discrimination, a qualified patient typically has better chances for remedy if terminated from an existing job, than the same patient would have if discriminated against (as a result of a positive drug test) before being hired.

Insurance

The law does not require your insurance carrier to cover the costs of your medical marijuana.

Reciprocity

Legal protections for qualified patients are limited to Montana registry ID cardholders. If you are a medical marijuana patient from out of state, Montana's medical marijuana laws no longer protect you. (From 2003 to 2011, Montana extended legal protections to cardholders from other states.)