Montanans voted to legalize in 2020, then things got complicated.

As a sign of the changing times, voters in conservative Montana approved recreational marijuana in November 2020. Now the state's dispensaries are preparing for recreational cannabis sales expected to create a $325 million adult-use cannabis market in just three years.

Sales started on January 1, 2022. But they won't happen in every county—at least not initially. Montana lawmakers have decided that counties where voters did not support legalization, must hold a separate referendum to make sales legal in their county.

Adult-use recreational marijuana sales begin on New Year’s Day 2022. From possession limits to travel tips, here’s what you need to know to keep on the right side of the new law.

On Jan. 1, 2022, adult-use recreational marijuana will become available for purchase in Montana. The launch of the new market raises a wide range of questions, from how much marijuana an individual can possess, to whether they can consume it in a national park, to the types of products that will be available for purchase.

Read on for answers to those questions, and many more, in this MTFP guide to the state’s post-prohibition marijuana marketplace. 

Initiative will appear on June 7 primary

Six weeks after Billings residents voted to ban recreational marijuana sales within city limits, Yellowstone County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to give county voters the same chance.

Chariman Don Jones, Denis Pitman, and John Ostlund, who voted against a similar resolution in August, all agreed to put the issue on the June 7 primary ballot. The move comes just 18 days before recreational marijuana sales become legal in Montana after House Bill 701 was signed into law earlier this year. Montana voters approved recreational sales on a state level in the November 2020 election.

With the legal sale of recreational marijuana set to begin Jan. 1 across Montana, Lake County residents are being asked to weigh in on whether to impose a local tax to benefit county and city governments.

Lake County commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a resolution to hold a special election to determine whether a local-option tax of 3% will be implemented beginning in July. Commissioners produced the resolution after the county’s three municipal governments — Polson, Ronan and St. Ignatius — agreed to hold the vote and contribute to the cost of the election.

Recreational cannabis sales begin in less than two months in half of Montana’s counties. Regulators and retailers alike are scrambling to finalize last minute details before that January 1st deadline.

It’s another busy morning at Missoula’s Greenhouse Farmacy. The dispensary’s staff is picking dried bulk marijuana flower out of a large plastic storage container, pre-weighing and packing it for sale in small aluminum containers.

“I feel like I’m in a hamster wheel. It’s constant," Greenhouse Farmacy co-owner Brian Monahan says.

BILLINGS — The Billings City Council inched closer to finalizing its marijuana business laws on Monday after making changes to aspects of zoning and capping the total number of dispensaries, according to a statement from Councilmember Kendra Shaw, who represents Ward 1.

The Council voted to keep marijuana dispensaries in heavy and light industrial, and heavy commercial zone districts. Within those zones, the dispensaries would have to be located 1,000 feet away from parks with playgrounds, churches and schools. The dispensaries must be located 150 feet from an arterial roadway.

View the map below to see spaces in Billings dispensaries may be allowed to operate.

 Representatives from local, county and tribal government met last week to discuss strategies for regulating recreational marijuana sales which are set to begin Jan. 1, 2022. Montana voters approved the sale of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older during the 2020 election. HB 701, passed in the 2021 legislative session, places oversight with the Department of Revenue, “provides for a local-option marijuana excise tax” and a requirement for local government approval.

With recent discussions in Helena on qualifications to get a medical marijuana card, some people are worried PTSD and chronic pain could be removed from the list. This move could impact over 39,000 licensed card holders in the state. The Economic Affairs Interim Committee talked about the marijuana program during a hearing last week. At a previous meeting, lawmakers talked about getting rid of PTSD and chronic pain as qualifiers for a medical marijuana card.