Both the City of Great Falls and the Montana Department of Revenue had issued cease and desist letters to Wild West Wellness, which is selling marijuana products in violation of city code and state law.

The city hand delivered their letter on April 26 and the DoR served their order on May 3.

As of about noon on May 16, customers could be seen entering and exiting the store at 725 1st Ave. N.

According to the documents, Wild West Wellness is operating in violation of city zoning and without a safety inspection certificate, and without a state license to operate a marijuana dispensary.

The shop is in a C-4 commercial zoning district.

The city zoning code only allows marijuana activities in industrial districts.

City to hear SIC revocation appeal over marijuana [2023]

David Dennis, city attorney, wrote in his letter that if the shop “fails to cease and desist operations immediately, the City of Great Falls will seek injunctive relief, along with fines, penalties and attorney fees and costs, as allowed by law.”

In the DoR order, the Cannabis Control Division wrote that the document is notice of their intent to apply for an injunction without further notice if the cease and desist is not obeyed.

Under state law, the DoR may assess a penalty of up to $1,000 per day for each day the order is violated.

The department can also seek its costs for the investigation and attorneys fees in pursuing a district court order.

Under Great Falls municipal code, businesses must have an SIC to operate in the city. To be issued, an application for an SIC must be approved by the planning, building, fire, health and public works departments.

Wild West Wellness submitted an SIC application in November 2022.

Locals asking county to cap number of marijuana dispensaries; county says law doesn’t allow cap

In the application, Mack Ethington wrote, “we sell glass and accessory’s,” according to the city, and described it as a “head shop.”

Mike McIntosh, Great Falls Fire Rescue assistant chief for fire prevention, contacted Ethington to schedule an inspection, during which McIntosh did not see product in the store.

McIntosh asked the nature of the business, to which Ethington responded the shop would be selling CBD and pipes, according to the city.

The SIC was issued on Dec. 1, 2022.

Lawmakers consider change to marijuana rules, penalties [2023]

Shortly thereafter, the city began receiving complaints that the shop was selling marijuana products, which are not legal in that zoning district nor was the shop licensed by the state as a dispensary.

The Electric also receiving complaints about the shop and asked the Montana Department of Revenue, which said they’d also received complaints.

The city revoked Wild West’s SIC in March 2023.

In that letter, City Manager Greg Doyon told Wild West to submit a new application by April 7.

The company did not, nor did it provide detailed information on products it was selling to the public, according to the city’s cease and desist letter. Instead Wild West’s attorney submitted a letter, disagreeing with the city, asserting it was a “head shop.”

In October, the City Commission was scheduled to hear Wild West’s appeal of the SIC revocation, but that meeting was postponed and never rescheduled.

After the city revoked the SIC, “and relying on Wild West’s assertions that its products were solely ‘hemp-based’ and not marijuana products, the city agreed to conduct a zoning determination,” according to Dennis’ letter.

In January, Wild West’s lawyer submitted an official request for a zoning determination and argued that the shop’s activities were appropriate for the C-4 zoning district because it was “retail sales” that are most similar to off-site liquor sales so they weren’t subject to the city’s zoning rules, according to Dennis’ letter.

On Feb. 2, City Planning Director Brock Cherry issued a zoning determination for Wild West that stated: “the Planning and Community Development Staff has concluded that the described use is most similar to that of a marijuana dispensary in terms of operation, regardless of the applicant’s claim of not selling a ‘marijuana’ product,” according to Dennis’ cease and desist letter.

City looking at options for using marijuana tax revenue [2022]

Wild West hasn’t contested or appealed the zoning determination, but asked staff what it needed to change to comply with city zoning, according to the city letter.

Wild West is not a licensed marijuana dispensary or a licensed marijuana manufacturer, according to the DoR’s cease and desist letter.

DoR administers the Montana Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which prohibits the sale of products that exceed a total THC concentration of 0.3 percent, or products that exceeded 0.5 milligrams of THC for each serving and 2 milligrams per package unless sold by a licensed manufacturer or licensed dispensary, according to DoR.

While considering Wild West’s request for additional guidance, city staff learned that DoR’s Cannabis Control Division had conducted testing on a number of Wild West products, and that those tests concluded that the products constituted “marijuana products” as defined by state law.

On Aug. 25, 2023, the CCD obtained sampled of blue raspberry gummies from the Great Falls shop and lab testing confirmed that the product contained Delta-9 THC in excess of the the state’s 0.3 percent limit. In December, CCD obtained samples of two other products from the shop that were also tested by the Montana Department of Agriculture and also exceed the 0.3 percent limit, according to the city’s letter.

DoR began an investigation of Wild West after numerous complaints from the public and the city and on Nov. 13, a department inspector purchased or otherwise received four products from Wild West’s Great Falls location.

First legal marijuana dispensary planned for west side of Great Falls [2022]

Two of the products were tested and showed THC levels exceeding the state’s 0.3 percent limit.

“Therefore, Wild West sold or otherwise transferred marijuana without a license in violation of” state law, according to the DoR order.

The other two products were submitted for testing, but the lab required more biomass than was provided so they weren’t tested. But, the product labels also showed a THC concentration above the state’s limit to sell without a license.

On Nov. 29, a department investigator purchased more products from Wild West in Great Falls, both of which tested above the state limit to sell without a marijuana dispensary license.

After the city received testing results from CCD, the city attorney’s office conducted its own investigation of the Great Falls location and on Feb. 9, city staff purchased four products from the shop.

Two of the four tested as having higher than allowed concentrations of Delta-9 THC, according to the city’s letter.On March 6, a department investigator purchased three more products from the shop that were tested and also exceeded the state limit for selling without a license, according to DoR’s order.

The DoR ordered Wild West to cease selling selling marijuana, marijuana products and products in excess of 0.5 milligrams of THC per serving and 2 milligrams of THC per package without a license.

New lawsuit filed against city over marijuana zoning rules [2022]

Dennis wrote in his April 26 letter that, “for well over a year Wild West Wellness’ management and legal counsel have asserted to city staff that its products constitute ‘hemp,’ not marijuana, and therefore, Wild West is not required
to be licensed by the Department of Revenue, and it is not subject to the city’s zoning requirements for recreational marijuana sales. Clearly, Wild West Wellness has deliberately and intentionally misled the City of Great Falls.”

The city enacted a prohibition of marijuana, both medical and recreational, in 2010 and the rule had not been challenged since, including in the years that medical marijuana was legalized in Montana and Cascade County, but not within the city limits.

In September 2022, the city commission adopted a new zoning ordinance that allowed marijuana operations only within light and heavy industrial districts in the city limits.

As a result of a district court ruling, that ordinance went into effect immediately.

In November 2022, Great Falls voters opted to allow marijuana operations in the city, meaning the new ordinance remained in effect.

Several dispensaries have opened in the city in the areas allowed under city zoning regulations.

Wild West Wellness is in the C-4 central commercial core zoning district, where marijuana operations are prohibited.

In early December 2022, City Fire Marshal Mike McIntosh and Tom Micuda, former deputy planning director, made an unannounced visit to the shop.

The city officials observed display cases with plants that appeared to be marijuana, according to the city.

They were greeted by Dan Kanewske, who is listed as the store’s registered agent and member of the parent company, M and D International LLC, who escorted them to a private room to discuss the matter, according to the city.

Ethington joined them and said they weren’t selling marijuana but a “hemp derivative,” according to city staff.

Staff continued receiving complaints and reports that Wild West Wellness was operating as a marijuana dispensary.

In one such citizen report, photos showed a bottle with two labels, one placed over the other. The labels had different information about the bottle’s contents.

Google Maps identifies the store as a “cannabis store” and online reviews, including one from Kanewske, refer to it as a dispensary. The shop’s website indicates it is a “high-end cannabis store.”

Judge rules city prohibition on marijuana businesses invalid [2022]

“Thus, the information available to the city in January of 2023 strongly suggested that appellant was operating a marijuana dispensary at 725 1st Avenue North. At a minimum, Appellant was not simply selling glass and CBD as it represented in its SIC application, or operating a “head shop.” But, rather, was selling cannabis-based intoxicants,” according to the city staff report for the since canceled SIC appeal hearing.

In March 2023, city staff met with the shop owners, who indicated they weren’t selling marijuana as it was defined by Montana law.

At the time, Montana laws defined marijuana, in part, as “all plant material from the genus cannabis containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).”

But, Montana law excluded from the definition of marijuana, any “hemp” and hemp derivative “with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent,” according to the city.

During the March meeting, shop owners told city officials that it sold cannabis-based products, but that they were hemp or hemp derived, according to staff.

Wild West Wellness’ owners argued that though their products had more that 20 percent THC concentrations, the delta-9 THC concentrations were below 0.3 percent and the majority of the project was delta-8 and delta-10, according to the staff report.

City adopts zoning rules, in case voters allow marijuana business operations on November ballot [2022]

At the end of March, City Manager Greg Doyon sent shop owners a letter stating that they did not provide “a good explanation as to why the business represented itself as a ‘head-shop’ which in common terms means a business
selling articles and pipes for drug use, but not the drug itself.”

Because that “misrepresentation directly led the city to approve the SIC without a proper understanding of the proposed business activity,” the city required the shop owners to submit a new SIC application with detailed information on the products it’s selling by April 7, 2023.

The shop owner’s didn’t submit a new application but did submit a response letter on that deadline in which their lawyer disagreed with Doyon that ‘head shop’ wasn’t an accurate description.

“The ‘supplemental information’ provided as to the products being sold by appellant was not viewed by staff as a ‘good faith’ effort to comply with…Doyon’s request for ‘detailed supporting information’ on the intoxicants it was selling to customers,” according to the staff report.

In May 2023, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB 948, which makes it illegal in the Montana to manufacture, process or sell a synthetic marijuana product, including any synthetic cannabinoid.

The law also requires businesses selling any product containing THC levels in excess of 0.3 percent, regardless of the type, to be licensed as a dispensary through the Montana Department of Revenue.

In mid-May, the DoR told The Electric that prior to the law’s passage, the Cannabis Control Division did not have any regulatory oversight or enforcement jurisdiction on unlicensed businesses.

“With the passage of HB 948 the department and local law enforcement can investigate this business and the products they are selling. In the event they are selling synthetic marijuana they can be issued a cease-and-desist order and can be fined up to a $1,000/day. The CCD has received multiple complaints about this business and until HB 948 was passed we did not have any regulatory jurisdiction.”

As of Oct. 15, Wild West Wellness did not appear on the state’s list of licensed dispensaries.

City Commission denies second marijuana dispensary appeal [2022]

On Oct. 17, the DoR told The Electric that “there are multiple state agencies and local law enforcement identified in HB 948 who have the authority to inspect and seek a cease-and-desist order against a business actively selling synthetic cannabis product. To date, the CCD has not inspected or imposed a civil penalty on Wild West Wellness.”

During summer 2023, Wild West Wellness’ parent company stopped operating and filed a civil suit in district court in Lewis and Clark County seeking to have HB 948 invalidated, arguing it was unconstitutionally vague. The court dismissed that claim.