A Republican Minot senator raised concerns about the price of medical marijuana at a town hall meeting over the weekend -- making note that he asked for a fee of only $25 to get an authorization card instead of the $200 fee proposed so far in the Senate bill.

Medical marijuana would be expensive in North Dakota under a legislative bill that passed 40-6 in Senate and now is before the House, he said.

Sen. Oley Larsen, R-Minot, cited costs that could run from $300 to $700 a month for those who smoke medical marijuana to $1,200 to $1,700 a month for those who use the oil.

"This is not covered by insurance. I work hand-in-hand with people with horrendous cancer problems and they are broke. And we are going to saddle $10,000 a year onto these people when they are broke. That's the frustrating part," Larsen said at a legislative forum in Minot on Saturday.

Medical marijuana has been a hot topic at forums held regularly by the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce.

Larsen fielded Saturday's medical marijuana questions, having served on the committee that overhauled a voter-approved initiated measure in Senate Bill 2344.

The bill creates a $200 annual fee to obtain a card that provides authorization to acquire medical marijuana.

"There is a problem about paying $200 a year," Larsen said, noting he proposed a $25 fee at a constituent's request. He said the fee level will have to be addressed by the House now that it is in their chambers.

A fee is needed to pay for the processes in place to ensure medical marijuana is grown, dispensed and used as intended.

"The state of North Dakota is not going to pay for the mechanics – this infrastructure. We are putting in over a $1 million to get it started, but it has to work on its own," Larsen said.

However, the resulting high cost to consumers should be a concern to the state because the Senate declined to include language in the bill that ensures medical marijuana is identifiable, he said.

"Here's the big problem. When you go to the compassion center and you get your bar-coded little receptacle that your stuff is in, I can go down to the bar at the corner and I can get that same stuff for about $65 and just keep putting it in the jar, and I am not going to pay $10,000 a year for this therapy that I know works," he said. "That was my biggest problem with this whole thing. There's no fingerprint on this smokeable stuff."

Larsen had proposed a floor amendment to let people grow their own medical marijuana for smoking.

"Because they are going to do it anyway. That was horribly defeated," he said.

Both the initiated measure and the bill prohibit recreational marijuana from being used as medical marijuana. Medical marijuana must contain a specific, therapeutic level of the active ingredient.

The Senate bill limits the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to three. Larsen said the number was set based on a review of how many people might utilize medical marijuana. That number was found to be about five people in 1,000.The funding for three dispensaries would address the expected demand, he said, and also reflects the interest being shown by those interested in opening dispensaries. Over time, the law may change to allow more dispensaries, though.

"This is just the starting point," he said.

State Rep. Andrew Maragos, R-Minot, addressed a question about legalizing and taxing marijuana to say he didn't think voters or legislators want to go that far.

"I don't think that's coming down the road," he said.