MONTANA BARS START SELLING WEED AFTER MISUNDERSTANDING GOVERNMENT MERGER

Bozeman — July 2025

In a regulatory move that absolutely no one understands, the State of Montana has officially merged its Alcohol and Cannabis Control Divisions into a single, unified agency — because if there’s one thing Montana excels at, it’s mixing intoxicants and pretending it was intentional.

The result? Mass confusion, zero enforcement clarity, and at least three bar owners who now think they’re licensed dispensaries.

“We thought it meant we could just start selling weed,” said Clyde Thompson, owner of The Grizzly Tap in Butte, who installed a “Bud Bar” next to his Coors Light tap on July 1st. “It’s all controlled by the same people now, right? I figured that’s what the merger meant.”

It wasn’t.

Bureaucracy Roulette

In classic Montana fashion, the state’s legislative solution to rising compliance concerns was to… create fewer regulators and give them more to regulate. The cannabis enforcement team — formerly six people in a basement with a broken printer — is now expected to also handle DUI reports, liquor license audits, and hostile bar takeovers by local meth dealers.

“No comment,” said Deputy Director Hal Forsberg when asked if his office was still inspecting dispensaries. “We’re very focused on educating licensees through outreach and mutual dialogue.”

Translation: they have no fucking clue what’s happening.

You Can’t Regulate Weed Like Whiskey

This isn’t just a staffing issue — it’s a fundamental category error.

Cannabis and alcohol are not the same drug. They don’t affect people the same way, they don’t carry the same risks, and they don’t belong under the same regulatory framework. But instead of developing cannabis-specific policy, Montana just duct-taped weed to liquor and called it "efficiency."

The new agency isn’t built to understand cannabis. It’s built to enforce alcohol rules — and now weed has to fit inside that system, even when it doesn’t.

This is how we get enforcement officers trained to track keg deliveries overseeing pesticide recalls. It’s not reform. It’s administrative laziness dressed up as oversight.

Meanwhile, licensed cannabis operators are still expected to meet seed-to-sale traceability, labeling, and storage requirements stricter than most alcohol distributors — while the people enforcing it also monitor bar fights.

Meanwhile, at the Bars

At The Rusty Mule in Billings, bartender Tiffany R. was caught offering “half a joint or a pickleback” with every shot of Jack. Her manager claims she misunderstood the memo from the Liquor-Cannabis Authority (an unofficial nickname that somehow stuck).

“She said the government legalized everything,” he shrugged. “And honestly, it’s been good for tips.”

A dispensary in Missoula reportedly opened a “CBD and Whiskey Lounge” and began advertising a Blunt & Bourbon Happy Hour with live bluegrass every Friday. When contacted, the owner responded:

“If the bars can sell weed, we figured we could sell booze. Fair’s fair.”

What the Merger Actually Means

According to Helena bureaucrats, the merger was “an efficiency initiative to consolidate state resources and improve inter-agency communication.” In practice, it’s a licensing maze with a weed leaf on one side and a keg on the other, and no signage in between.

A leaked internal email shows employees at the newly combined agency asking:

“Do we now report to the Cannabis Enforcement Supervisor or the Alcohol Compliance Analyst?”

To which someone replied:

“Just copy both and hope no one replies.”

Public Health Officials Not Amused

Montana’s Department of Public Health issued a strongly worded reminder that:

“Cannabis and alcohol must not be co-located, sold together, or marketed as complementary products,”

Followed by the caveat:

“Unless exempted under transitional regulatory realignment.”

Translation? Do whatever you want — just call it something boring.