The state Department of Health and Human Services decreased the price of the green card from $75 to $5, effective July 9.

According to DPHHS Communications Director Jon Ebelt, the change follows a review of the medical marijuana program that revealed the revenue was exceeding the operating expenses.

But affordability is of the least concern to Katie Wetch, a medical marijuana patient with Arnold Chiari Malformation and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

“There’s two rods in my back. They attach to my skull and push it up so it lifts my head off my brain stem,” said Wetch, of Billings. “The hardware is really painful.”

The disorder causes the brain to herniate into the spinal canal.

According to the CDC, many young patients suffer fatal complications.

“I had my first brain surgery when I was 14 and things just started to deteriorate,” said Wetch.

Each new surgery led to a new prescription pain killer, increasing Wetch’s nausea and decreasing her appetite for life.

Wetch said she became a medical marijuana patient at age 15, making her the first card holder in the state of Montana under the age of 18.

For 10 years, Wetch has eased the pain with a daily dose of cannabis.

But with the restrictions on the program recently upheld by the Supreme Court, along with the ballot initiative to make all marijuana illegal in the state, Wetch fears the relief could soon come to an end.

“If they take this away, I don’t know what I’m going to do because I refuse to go back to that life of not having a life,” said Wetch.

Doctor Michael Uphues said at a recent seminar in Billings that he wants medical marijuana to replace opiods for people like Wetch.

“(Experts) know it works, we’ve seen a decrease in opiod use in states that have medical cannabis laws,” said Uphues.

For Wetch, moving to one of those states may be the only answer if voters say “no” to her medicine.

“It doesn’t only help me,” said Wetch. “There are hundreds and thousands of people it helps. I’m just one patient.”

Signatures collected on the many ballot initiatives on the issue – including initiatives to legalize recreational use of the drug, an effort to improve medical marijuana use, and an initiative to criminalize all marijuana – are expected to be counted and finalized by July 15.

The initiatives that received the required number of signatures will appear on the November ballot.