Citizens for a Green Fergus County is a collective of your friends and neighbors. Some of us have lived here our whole lives and some have come from other parts of Montana but we all hold one thing in common and that is we want to see Fergus County get the full benefit from allowing adult-use cannabis businesses to operate.

After Adult-use cannabis was legalized following the November 2020 general election supporters of adult-use businesses praised their fellow Montanans for seeing past the propaganda and seeing that adult-use cannabis is a win for everyone involved, including filling the coffers of our states general fund. The ballot initiative passed with a nearly 60% approval by your fellow Montanans.

Following the vote by people, the 2021 legislature set out to implement the I-190 ballot initiative. The result was HB 701 a bill that cleared both houses of the legislature and was signed in to law by Governor Gianforte.

HB 701 had a peculiar twist where it was decided that if a county did not vote > 50% then the county was not automatically enabled to allow adult-use cannabis businesses. Instead the legislature made it so that the only way the counties that voted under the 50% threshold is for them to hold yet another election which brings us to where we are today.

Citizens for a Green Fergus County want the residents of Fergus County to be able to get the benefits of allowing adult-use cannabis businesses such as cultivators, manufacturers, lab testers and transporters to operate within the county. These businesses bring additional revenue to the county as well as the state general fund and the taxes collected are completely voluntary as they are paid by the individuals that participate in the adult-use cannabis businesses.

Ultimately, we want what is best for our community including reduced crime, increased revenue from voluntary taxes and to remove the overreach of government telling us what businesses can and cannot operate in our county while allowing them to operate freely in other counties.