Anti Marijuana Group Promotes Bill to Delay Recreational Sale

Steve Zabawa, founder of Safe Montana told KGVO News on Tuesday that a Montana legislator has introduced a bill to delay the implementation of legalized recreational marijuana.

“Bill Mercer has put together a House bill that's going to committee here this week and it's to delay the implementation of marijuana to January of 2023,” said Zabawa. “The idea is for the governor and the state to implement it correctly, number one, but more importantly to allow our lawsuit that we've got in play right now.”

Zabawa claims the organization promoting I-190 did not provide honest information about the measure to the public.

“We found out through our recent poll that the way they got 57% of the vote was that one out of four people said if they knew exactly what was going to go on after the fact they would have never voted yes,” he said. “The thing that they are upset about is that number one; there was dark money to the tune of $5 million out of Washington, DC.”

Zabawa provide more details about a lawsuit currently being considered opposing the I-190 initiative.

“Our lawsuit with Wrong for Montana against the I-190 people, we believe has a very good shot of winning up there in Helena, and we're just waiting for that to happen,” he said. “So by delaying it a year, it allows everybody to wake up to the fact that it was a ‘big lie in the Big Sky’ number one, and number two, that there is not any money going to the conservation group of fish, wildlife and parks and veteran services.”

Zabawa claims Montana voters were fooled into voting for I-190.

“Voters in Montana got hoodwinked,” he said. “We're doing everything we can to un-hoodwink them and give them an opportunity to re-vote on a straight up initiative where they're not being lied to as far as exaggerating the money or where it's going, or who's backing the deal. So if the people knew who was backing it they said 25% of those ‘Yes’, voters said that they would have changed their mind to know they would have never voted ‘Yes’.

I-190 passed with 57 percent of the vote in November 2020.