When Republican Representative James Knox (R-Billings Heights) testified in front of a Senate committee this week in favor of repealing Montana’s medical marijuana initiative, he appeared to be near tears.

It turns out, however, that Knox is hardly the distraught moral naif he pretends to be.  According the Montanafesto blog, Knox must have put aside these qualms when he proposed a contract to create a website for a medical marijuana business. UPDATE: New information has come to light.  See the comment section.

Montanafesto has the story, the contract, and an exposé of the profit arrangements other opponents of medical cannabis had set up, presumably before they launched a petition campaign to repeal the voter passed initiative.  UPDATE #2: The Billings Gazette is reporting this story h/t Montanafesto.

As for the tears, Knox needs to channel his bottled up emotions towards a more worthy end — if he really feels so strongly.   Rep. Knox has not introduced any bills related to repealing or tightening regulations on medical marijuana. Knox has also voted to include large cuts to prevention programs, mental health care, and drug treatment in the GOP’s budget proposal.

A Lee Newspapers poll, released today, found most Montanans prefer to tighten regulations on the current law over repealing the citizens’ initiative.  The poll results cast further doubt on polling done on this subject by GOP operatives earlier this year, as well as on the operatives earlier polling work on other subjects.