[420 Girl]

A small Whitefish, Montana business is suddenly in a cloud of controversy over medical marijuana laws that it has nothing to do with.

Jed McDonald is one of the owners of a start up business called Hydroponic Garden, a business he says has been incorrectly linked to medical marijuana.

"They stereotyped us. They put us in a category that is not only hurting our business, but it is putting a bad name out there for us too" McDonald told us.

Last month, McDonald leased a space downtown, just across the street from Whitefish Middle School. They set out to open their store selling indoor gardening systems such as light bulbs and meters.

He says their mission is to help people grow their own produce in their homes, not to sell or promote medical marijuana.

"We have a four to five month period where you can grow outside, and what we are trying to educate people on is how they can do it indoors 12 months out of the year" McDonald explained. "It's not new, but a lot of people don't understand what hydroponics is, so there is a lot of speculation behind it."

Right now there are no plans for any medical marijuana shops, but the questions are what caught the attention of the city's planning department.

There are currently no regulations in Whitefish for that type of store, butWhitefish Planning and Building Director Dave Taylor says the city says that needs to change that fact.

"Whitefish wants to be able to provide a place for people to get their medicine. We don't want to discriminate against that use, however there are some conflicts involved with it being located next to a school or a daycare, or church or library" Taylor said. "So, there were some concern- a little bit of red flag."

The Whitefish City Council is now calling for a meeting to vote on an emergency ordinance that would temporarily ban any medical marijuana retailers from settling in Whitefish.

"They had some different options, but they chose to ban them outright until we can get a full ordinance in place that really looks at where the best place for these things are and what is appropriate" Taylor added.

The city council will vote on the temporary ban on December 7th


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