Montana Feds arrest medical pot providers

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Four of the six medical marijuana providers who are suing the U.S. government over last year's raids of pot businesses across Montana have been arrested on federal drug charges, their lawyer in the civil lawsuit said Tuesday. The medical marijuana businesses of the four plaintiffs arrested Tuesday and last Thursday were among more than 26 homes, businesses and warehouses searched in sweeping raids last spring that shut down many providers and cast a pall over Montana's booming pot business. The lawsuit, which challenges the constitutionality of raiding medical marijuana providers who were operating under a voter-approved Montana law, is before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a district judge rejected their claims in January. The attorney in the lawsuit, Paul Livingston of New Mexico, said he did not know why the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are being targeted now. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Fehr said federal prosecutors did not have comment on the new arrests. Federal prosecutors have repeatedly refused to comment on the raids and subsequent prosecution of medical marijuana providers. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the federal government say the heavy-handed governmental approach has countermanded the will of Montana voters who approved the state's medical marijuana law in 2004 that allowed them to grow and produce the drug for medical consumption. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy dismissed their claims in January, ruling that state law does not shield medical marijuana providers from federal prosecution. The plaintiffs have appealed, and Livingston said the lawsuit is an important test of the division between federal and state laws regulating the use of marijuana. Published: Thu, Apr 5, 2012