EVERGREEN – The Green Haus medical marijuana dispensary is a bright, airy space with wooden accents and friendly faces behind the counter, a dream owner Mike Eacker has spent at least a decade making come true.
Each customer who walks in is greeted by name, and each tells stories of how medical cannabis has changed their lives for the better. But Eacker, like more than 600 other medical marijuana providers in Montana, knows the path forward is far from smooth.
Just getting into this building was a challenge, he said. When medical marijuana was first legalized in Montana, Eacker set up shop but was eventually shut out of his property lease after a federal crackdown on local cannabis operations in 2009.