While advocates in Montana are hoping to revitalize the state’s decaying medical marijuana program this November, reports indicate that an error found in the language of the ballot measure set to go before the voters could continue to jam up thousands of patients for possibly another year.

Supporters of the initiative, referred to as I-182, have been fighting to put the state’s medical marijuana program back together after a bad call by the Supreme Court whittled it down to a state of almost non-existence.  A number of new restrictions are set to take effect this week that will impose heavy restrictions on the number of patients caregivers can legally service as well as shut the doors of dispensaries all across the state.

All of these new controls on the medical marijuana program have a chance to be lifted, as long as voters approve the I-182 proposal later this fall.

Unfortunately, even if the initiative is greeted at the polls with howling reverberations of great success, it will still be awhile before the medical marijuana industry can begin functioning like a well-oiled machine. That’s because the wording of the initiative contains a “clerical error” that dictates some of the new changes would not take effect until June 30, 2017.

The intent behind 1-182 was that all changes would become effective immediately.

Those backing the initiative want the blundered language changed once the proposal is approved in the election, but officials say that because the measure has already been finalized by the Montana Secretary of State’s office, no amendments can be made – leaving it up to either the state legislature or a judge to remedy the mistake.

Therefore, the state’s medicinal cannabis program, considering 1-182 goes the distance, could still take months before medical marijuana providers could take on more than the allotted three patients. A report from the Associated Press suggests this could leave around 12,000 patients waiting on bended knee for the resurrection of their long lost functional program.