[420 Girl]

Visitors to the state Capitol on Friday couldn't help but notice the peculiar odor wafting throughout the building — and it wasn't the cafeteria's special of meatloaf.

In an unprecedented show of support for medical marijuana, patients and caregivers put five live, flowering and very odiferous cannabis plants on display in the second floor rotunda.

The plants, along with volumes of material on the benefits of what patients and caregivers call a natural "wonder drug," were part of an all-day event dubbed "Cannabis at the Capitol."

The event, sponsored by Patients and Families United, featured free brownies, several speakers and plenty of information on medical marijuana, so far one of the most buzzworthy issues of the 2009 Legislature.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on a measure today that would increase the amount of medical marijuana patients could possess and expand the list of ailments that qualify for marijuana treatment.

Edwin Stickney is a physician from Billings who first recommended medical marijuana for a young female patient suffering from Chiari's Syndrome, a genetic condition in which the base of the skull presses on the brain, causing chronic fatigue. Addressing a crowd of more than 100 supporters and curious onlookers, Stickney said he has seen medical marijuana turn around his patients' lives.

"Since then, I have had about 60 and 70 patients come to me," Stickney said. "They are not druggies ... for the most part they suffer from chronic pain."

Stickney said medical marijuana allows his patients to avoid taking addictive prescription medications such as Percodan or Oxycontin.

"They have been able to replace (their painkillers) with medical marijuana ... and their quality of life improves," Stickney said.

Not everyone was supportive of Friday's rally.

Rep. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, told the Bozeman Chronicle that he was furious over the cannabis rally. According to House Majority Leader Margarett Campbell, D-Poplar, McGillvray wanted security guards to remove the marijuana plants from the rotunda but was told the display was legal under Montana law.

"You don't get to pick and choose which events are covered under the First Amendment," Campbell said.

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