MN NORML will meet in the Brainerd Public library at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Brainerd public library is located at 416 South Fifth St. MN NORML is the Minnesota chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). NORML supports medical marijuana legislation and legalizing everyday use by responsible adults. NORML advocates regulating and taxing marijuana. The MN NORML meeting is open to the public. [end]
The Notion That Pot Is a Gateway Drug Limits Children's Grasp of Safer Substance Use. Lawmakers who are critical of marijuana often point to the drug's status as a "gateway" to harder substances. However, recent studies suggest that alcohol consumption and tobacco use are more likely to lead to hard drugs than marijuana. With these results in mind, Minnesotans should question their view of pot while lawmakers are on the verge of considering medical marijuana. A 2012 study in the Journal of School Health revealed that alcohol served as gateway drug for high school students, leading to tobacco, marijuana and more illicit drug use. In addition, the 2013 Boynton Health Services survey shows that 23 percent of all tobacco users at the University have used other illegal drugs (not including marijuana) in the past year, compared to just 3.5 percent of non-tobacco users. Given statistics showing loose links to numerous drugs, rather than pot as the sole instigator, we need to re-evaluate drug education and future legislation. [continues 388 words]
ST. PAUL - Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton says he does not expect his proposal to study medical marijuana to pass this year's Legislature. In a WCCO radio interview, he called changes for the plan "slim and none." Advocates of a bill, stalled in the Legislature, would not support his plan, he said. He opposes the bill to legalize marijuana for use to control seizures and extreme pain because law enforcement groups do not support the use of plant marijuana. Dayton suggested giving the Mayo Clinic $2.2 million to conduct a clinical study of a chemical found in marijuana to help control children's seizures. He also wanted a study about how states that already allow medical marijuana have fared. The governor said he will bring back his study proposal next year. [end]
A Hibbing child who has become a centerpiece in the discussion about whether to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota will be the subject of a benefit dinner next month. The "Amelia Bedelia Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction" will take place for Amelia Weaver beginning at 6 p.m. April 25 at the Hibbing Park Hotel, organizers said. Amelia, 7, has been diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome, a form of epilepsy that causes her to experience more than 30 seizures a day and has severely hampered her development. Her parents, Josh and Angie Weaver, have said they will move to Colorado if medical marijuana doesn't become legal in Minnesota this year. They cite reports of children with Dravet Syndrome who have been helped by a form of medical marijuana in Colorado. [continues 82 words]
To the editor, The Kenyon Leader should give an opposing position to Kevin Sabet's discredited claims (Myths Of Legalizing Medicinal Marijuana, Mar. 13, 2014), which are too many to list. Even the Reefer Madness government subsidized prohibitionists quit using the historically discredited "gateway theory" decades ago. Cannabis (marijuana) is less addictive than coffee: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Addictive_Properties#sthash.P8dh79U1.dpbs. Cannabis has been documented medicinally for over 5,000 years without a single death; that's safety on a Biblical scale. The plant is safer than every pharmaceutical drug it replaces. Colorado citizens have used cannabis medicinally with protection from overzealous government for over a decade and continue to use it while cannabis has completely become re-legalized and the sky hasn't fallen in. Truthfully, Stan White [end]
Rep. Melin, Hibbing Resident at Odds With Gov. Dayton ST. PAUL -- DFL Rep. Carly Melin of Hibbing and city resident Angie Weaver urged Gov. Mark Dayton to give seriously ill Minnesotans access to medicinal marijuana during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Melin made an impromptu speech during the meeting imploring the governor to rethink his stance about legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota. Melin authored a bill to legalize medical marijuana but has received strong opposition from Dayton and lawmakers throughout the session. [continues 864 words]
ST. PAUL -- DFL Rep. Carly Melin of Hibbing and city resident Angie Weaver urged Gov. Mark Dayton to give seriously ill Minnesotans access to medicinal marijuana during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Melin made an impromptu speech during the meeting imploring the governor to rethink his stance about legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota. Melin authored a bill to legalize medical marijuana but has received strong opposition from Dayton and lawmakers throughout the session. "I know Gov. Dayton personally and he is a very compassionate person," said Melin while fighting back tears. "I think that he can change his mind and change his approach and we can get something done that is going to result in getting these families what they need." [continues 817 words]
ST. PAUL -- The debate over medical marijuana has been front and center this legislative session, with the spotlight landing heavily on Rep. Carly Melin, a Hibbing DFLer who doggedly pushed the drug's legalization for medicinal use since last spring. But efforts by the 28-year-old, second term representative to allow patients suffering from serious medical conditions access to the drug have evoked several thorny exchanges between Gov. Mark Dayton and law enforcement officials, who aligned in opposition of the proposal. [continues 1645 words]
College of Biological Sciences Professors Say the Bill Could Expand Crop Studies. Legislation that would authorize the University of Minnesota to perform agricultural or academic research on hemp is moving through the state Capitol this session, gaining support from some faculty members. Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, is sponsoring a bill that would authorize higher education institutions to perform industrial hemp research by allowing the Commissioner of Agriculture to administer the growth and cultivation of the crop through a pilot program. [continues 484 words]
Twenty states have legalized medical marijuana in the past two decades. During that time, calls to national poison centers pertaining to marijuana exposure in children have doubled. The detection of marijuana in fatally injured drivers has tripled. Despite safety concerns, there is no standardization of marijuana dosing, packaging or delivery systems. THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana plants, has increased in concentration from 4 percent in the 1980s to 15 percent in 2012. Marijuana is the most common illicit substance identified among patients admitted to drug rehabilitation programs. The decision of whether a plant with intoxicating properties should be legalized for medicinal use belongs in the domain of medical professionals, the FDA and law enforcement - not the Minnesota Legislature, Gov. Mark Dayton or newspaper editorial boards. Maria K. Poirier Rochester [end]
The Chemical Health Initiative of Goodhue County in collaboration with other coalitions and state agencies across Minnesota worked together to sponsor a professional forum on Feb. 13 at the Mall of America. Dr. Kevin Sabet spoke about the consequences of legalizing medicinal marijuana. In addition to CHI staff, school staff from Goodhue and Red Wing were in attendance. Sabet brought a wealth of knowledge and experience from working directly with Colorado after marijuana was legalized. Sabet is the director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida and an assistant professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. He is also the co-founder of Project SAM; Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He is a policy consultant to numerous domestic and international organizations through his company, the Policy Solutions Lab. [continues 1376 words]
NEW ULM - A New Ulm man charged with growing and selling marijuana will argue in court that he has a constitutional right to make his own health decisions, according to his attorneys. Calvin P. Johnson and Elizabeth Levine of Mankato, said in a press release Saturday that John Hansen II "is fighting for his personal, individual right to use an effective remedy to treat his unmitigated and enduring anxiety... Through using marijuana, Jon gains benefits which he does not gain by any other means." [continues 133 words]
Area legislators haven't made medical marijuana a key issue, and their responses generally fall along party lines. Sen. Kathy Sheran, D-Mankato: She voted for medical marijuana in 2009 and predicted before the session that the state Senate would support "some prescription option to give relief to people." "I am cautious about it," she said, saying she wants a bill tailored to medical use with controls about the safety of the drug. Rep. Clark Johnson, D-North Mankato: He said he's open-minded about the topic and wants to learn more about it. He hopes law-enforcement officers can understand the drug has medical value. [continues 180 words]
Medicinal Marijuana Debate Continues in Legislature Rachael Nelson is 11 years old, and her Mankato family has tried everything to stop the seizures. Diets, medication, even a nerve stimulator implanted in her chest. Not only did the drugs not stop her seizures, they had nasty side effects, like vomiting and drowsiness so bad she couldn't go to school. One drug made her seizures worse and another stopped her breathing. Rachael has Rett syndrome, a rare brain disorder that overwhelmingly affects girls. She started having seizures at about 18 months and has had "hundreds and thousands" since then, said her mother, MaryAnn. [continues 2373 words]
NEW ULM -- A New Ulm man is challenging his February arrest for a marijuana growing operation that was discovered in his house. He filed a motion to dismiss his case Wednesday in Brown County District Court. Jon Hansen II, 33, of New Ulm is charged with felony fourth-degree and fifth-degree controlled substance sale, felony fifth-degree controlled substance possession and petty misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession. At the time of his arrest, police reportedly found fifteen different marijuana plants that were being grown in Hansen's mobile home. [continues 120 words]
Governor Said He'd Work for Compromise After Hearing Advocates' Stories. Wrapped in a body cast as he recovers from hip surgery, Gov. Mark Dayton was on the phone Thursday with reporters, laying out all the reasons he remained opposed to the legalization of medical marijuana. Outside the wrought-iron gates of his Summit Avenue residence, demonstrators were gathering. Some held aloft a "get-well" card that offered some caustic tips for a speedy recovery like, "Stop bowing down to law enforcement." [continues 853 words]
To paraphrase a passage from the commissioners' commentary, let's have a little word game and see where it goes. While the benefits of alcohol are poorly documented, there's no shortage of evidence regarding its negative effects on individuals and communities. For example: Alcohol can disrupt learning and impair memory; Alcohol can exacerbate mental illness; Alcohol use during pregnancy can harm a baby's brain development; Alcohol can impair drivers, causing automobile crashes that kill or injure innocent people; Alcohol is addictive; 1 in 6 of those who start using in their teens develop dependency. OK, I didn't match all the bullet points (two were questionable), but clearly we should make alcohol illegal. Oh, wait a minute - we tried that, and it didn't work. Charles Nichols, Brooklyn Center [end]
Commissioners Make a Flawed Case Against It In a March 12 commentary, the commissioners of the Minnesota departments of Health, Human Services and Public Safety (Ed Ehlinger, Lucinda Jesson and Mona Dohman, respectively) cite the need for more research on medical marijuana, but they curiously leave out the reason such research is impossible: Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I narcotic. This puts it on the same list as heroin and ties the hands of researchers who do want to quantify and validate the overwhelming anecdotal evidence the authors deem unworthy of consideration. [continues 57 words]
Commissioners Make a Flawed Case Against It The three commissioners begin their commentary with the pronouncement that they "know how difficult it can be to watch a loved one struggle with major illness or chronic pain." I do not know their experiences, but obviously, they don't know mine. They write that they "appreciate the commitment with which families search for effective treatments." Obviously, they don't. People in crisis suffering from disabling illness and pain know better. As patients, we search for anything that works, regardless of these three bureaucrats' protestations about "efficacy, effective safeguards, side effects and other factors." [continues 147 words]
Most political observers agreed that legalizing marijuana for medical purposes faced a tough fight in this year's legislative session, especially after Gov. Mark Dayton said he wouldn't sign the bill without the support of the law enforcement community. But the landscape of the issue changed briefly last week when the Minnesota Law Enforcement Coalition said it was open to discussing medical marijuana becoming legal in extract form. The coalition, which represents the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, the Minnesota Sheriffs Association, the Minnesota Chief of Police Association and the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, announced a list of acceptable conditions for medical use of marijuana. [continues 517 words]
Inside Minnesota
