[420 Girl]

A Republican leader isn’t laughing about a flier promoting the “Cannabis at the Capitol” rally scheduled for Friday.

Although the first-ever noontime rally for “cannabis-policy reforms” has raised some eyebrows and prompted some chuckles, assistant Minority Floor Leader Tom McGillvray was not amused by the fliers, which include a picture of the Capitol building superimposed over a marijuana leaf.

“Not funny,” said McGillvray, holding the flier Thursday. “It’s an outrage.”

McGillvray, a Billings Republican and social conservative, said the rally undercuts parents’ and law enforcement’s efforts to curb illegal drug use.

The flier is in part tongue-in-cheek. It advertises “free brownies” at “high noon,” a reference to the practice of baking marijuana into the chocolate treats.

“Every parent in this state cares about this,” he said. “If this were cigarettes, how far do you think this would go?”

The rally’s sponsor - medical-marijuana advocacy group Patients & Families United - is using the rally to highlight the issues surrounding what has been a hot topic this session, medical marijuana.

In 2004, Montana voters overwhelmingly approved allowing marijuana to be used for certain medical purposes. Both Republicans and Democrats this session have been introducing legislation to set parameters on medical marijuana in the state.

The rotunda rally promises to be a head turner. Tom Daubert, founder of Patients & Families United, said it will include “completely legal marijuana plants,” and a speech from a former police officer who wants to see marijuana legalized.

McGillvray said medical-marijuana advocates should express their views during hearings.

Furthermore, the flier isn’t funny, he said.

“I get the puns,” he said. “The way the flier is put together, it’s making a mockery of every parent’s desire to help their child be drug-free. … We have an (anti) meth march with 2,000 kids here, now we have marijuana? Give me a break.”

Daubert said McGillvray should not “judge a book by its cover. And he shouldn’t judge an event by its poster.”

Cannabis at the Capitol will run all day in the rotunda.

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