The reason for writing this letter is to express a few thoughts pertaining to Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay's views on medical marijuana, as reported in the News Tribune's Jan. 19 editorial (Our View: "Medical marijuana measure not yet right for Minnesota"). The editorial made a strong argument that was very credibly based, including on Chief Ramsay's experience in the police force. Be that as it may, there was no question that many statements presented proved the editorial was biased. [continues 239 words]
The latest Minnesota Poll conducted by the Star Tribune indicated that a bare majority -- 51 percent -- of Minnesotans favor the legalization of marijuana for medical uses. We've always wondered -- what exactly are the medical properties of marijuana? We have heard that it helps control pain and nausea for those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, that it does something for glaucoma sufferers and that it calms some people suffering from mental disorders. To listen to some proponents it is a golden elixir, a panacea that cures a number of ills. We never seem to hear about potential side effects. Most pharmaceutical ads include lengthy disclaimers about how the drug may cause this or that harmful condition. We would imagine smoking marijuana would have a large number of unhealthy side effects. [continues 69 words]
Supporters of Legislation to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota are considering a new approach for the 2014 session, and the potential changes are winning the backing of some law enforcement groups. State Rep. Carly Melin, the chief author of the bill in the Minnesota House is working on a much narrower proposal that would allow only the use of some non-narcotic, marijuana-derived chemicals. Medical marijuana advocates have faced unyielding opposition from the state's big law enforcement organizations, and Gov. Mark Dayton has repeatedly said he won't sign a bill that those groups oppose. But Melin, DFL-Hibbing, said law enforcement is now showing some interest in a compromise version of her bill, which she thinks the governor could eventually sign. [continues 518 words]
ST. PAUL -- Supporters of Legislation to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota are considering a new approach for the 2014 session, and the potential changes are winning the backing of some law enforcement groups. State Rep. Carly Melin, the chief author of the bill in the Minnesota House is working on a much narrower proposal that would allow only the use of some non-narcotic, marijuana-derived chemicals. Medical marijuana advocates have faced unyielding opposition from the state's big law enforcement organizations, and Gov. Mark Dayton has repeatedly said he won't sign a bill that those groups oppose. But Melin, DFL-Hibbing, said law enforcement is now showing some interest in a compromise version of her bill, which she thinks the governor could eventually sign. [continues 518 words]
Consider the Track Record - the Times When the Question Has Been Directly Put to Voters. Critics have questioned the accuracy of Star Tribune opinion polls for quite a few years now, and the latest results should reinforce their doubts ("Majority back medical marijuana," Feb. 18). The results should be called "outliers," as they record far less support for cannabis law reform than other nonpartisan polls have in recent years and months. But the polls that really matter are the elections where people actually cast their votes. Since 1996, voters in 11 states and the District of Columbia have voted directly in favor of medicinal cannabis ballot measures, and only two states have turned it down. In Michigan, which is very comparable demographically and geographically to Minnesota, medical cannabis carried every single one of the state's 83 counties. Therapeutic cannabis beat the past three presidents in their political strongholds -- polling better than Clinton in California in 1996, better than Bush in Montana in 2004 and better than Obama in Michigan in 2008. [continues 80 words]
Public officials have been working to curtail smoking and smoking-related deaths for several decades. Cigarette taxes have caused prices to triple in the past 20 years; tobacco companies can no longer sponsor sporting events; and their internal documents are now publically available. Thanks to these and other legal changes, the adult smoking rate has dropped to 18 percent, about half as many as were reported only 30 years ago. The percentage of young adults, ages 18 to 29, who smoke has dropped by 9 percent since 2001. [continues 461 words]
Regarding Tony Mancuso's thoughtful Feb. 5 op-ed (Local View: "Facts support medical marijuana"), while there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, and it helps that patient feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left to patients and their doctors. Drug warriors waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors should not be dictating health care decisions. [continues 53 words]
I'm writing about Mike Holst's not-so-thoughtful letter: "Legalizing marijuana" (2-5-14). The cannabis legalization issue is not whether cannabis is completely safe for everybody, including children and adolescents, it is not. The issue is freedom of choice for adults. Children have died from eating peanuts and peanut butter but we don't cage peanut growers, sellers or consumers. And the voters of Colorado and Washington state have decided that we should not cage cannabis growers, sellers or consumers. Minnesota adults have the freedom of choice of whether or not to buy and consume legal alcohol. Shouldn't they have the same freedom of choice regarding legal cannabis? Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
I want to join in the discussions on legalizing pot. The other day our president said, "It's no worse than alcohol." Reading between the lines he is saying, "Yes alcohol is a problem, but we tolerate it, so what the heck, lets add another problem to the mix." We like to listen to the minority in this country. Medical marijuana would help very few people and I don't think that anybody has any real hang-ups with putting it in a pill and having it as a prescription drug. But that is not the intent here of those who want it legal. They realize that this is the first step towards legalization. [continues 199 words]
I applaud Rep. Carly Melin for introducing House File 1818 to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota. As a parent of a son with a debilitating seizure disorder, this treatment might just be the successful treatment after more than 27 years of suffering. My son had a severe reaction to his infant vaccine (DPT, a legal drug) at 3 months old, and no medication to date successfully has curbed his seizure activity. He has suffered an average of dozens of seizures per day his whole life. He has had two brain surgeries, been the subject of several drug trials, and has ingested tens of thousands of pills and potions, none of which have worked and all of which have damaged his liver and will significantly shorten his life. [continues 349 words]
Medical Marijuana Debate Comes to Minnesota Once Again Legislators, law enforcement and local residents will look to the state Capitol in a few weeks as yet another medical marijuana bill comes to attention. Medical marijuana, and marijuana in general, are issues getting renewed state and national attention after Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana use last year. There are 20 states which allow medical marijuana in some form, and bipartisan supporters are urging lawmakers to make Minnesota the 21st state to allow medical marijuana. [continues 787 words]
The Jan. 26 editorial cartoon by Steve Sack, depicting the relative numbers of grave sites necessitated by deaths due to alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, made this reader unsettled - not so much by what it said but by what it did not. No, few deaths are attributable to marijuana in this country, but hundreds die brutally every year south of our border providing this product to U.S. consumers. Our country could end this "outsourcing" of death by legalizing marijuana (we grow some of the best pot in the world), capturing tax revenue from the legal sale of a homegrown product, and reducing the pain and suffering of chemotherapy patients by making marijuana available to those who need it. Prohibition of alcohol gave rise to organized crime in this country. Prohibition of marijuana has done the same in Mexico. Benjamin Cherryhomes Hastings [end]
It's obvious that Sack has never smoked pot, or he would know that you can get just as "drunk," so to speak, on marijuana, as you can on alcohol. I experimented with marijuana as a younger person and have indulged in drinking, as well. I know from both experiences that when you have enough of either drug, you are unable to drive safely. How does Sack know how many traffic deaths have been caused over the years by a stoned driver? I'd like to know where he's getting his figures in showing zero deaths from marijuana. Mound [end]
Aristotle, by thought alone, concluded that women have fewer teeth than men. Don't make the same mistake about marijuana intoxication. Instead of just thinking, look at data and studies. You'll conclude that Sack's cartoon was on target. St. Paul [end]
Before drug-testing welfare recipients ("Welfare drug tests challenged" Jan. 30), Minnesota might want to look at Florida's experience. Before the law was struck down, Florida tested 4,086 applicants, and 108 (2.6 percent) failed. Before Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Trey Radel resigned this week for cocaine possession, at least one out of 17 Florida Republicans in the U.S. House bought cocaine (6 percent). The odds favor testing House Republicans rather than welfare recipients. JOHN SHERMAN, Moorhead, Minn. [end]
Some county officials insist the drug-testing mandate applies to such a tiny sliver of the welfare population that it's not worth the cost to administer. One legislator says that all truck drivers have to be drug-tested to keep their commercial driver's licenses. Note that word -"all." Is it worth it then, perhaps, to test all welfare recipients instead of a "tiny sliver"? Or, to use the administration cost viewpoint more broadly, why don't we tell our police agencies to not investigate burglaries and thefts using well-paid officers and detectives and prosecutors, and instead just subsidize victims for their losses? Given the millions of people in just the metro area and the probable fact that a "tiny sliver" or so are robbed or burgled, it sure seems to make sense, on a cost basis, not to pursue violators of the public peace and security. Sounds good to me, but then again, I just got off the potato boat. MIKE AUSPOS, Ramsey [end]
An Unlikely Coalition Stands Poised to Fight for Legalization of the Natural Remedy Joni Whiting runs a hand through her long, graying hair and pets the top of a rose-colored box that contains the ashes of her daughter Stephanie. Spread out along Joni's couch in Jordan are the photographs detailing Stephanie's decline. The first one stars a bubbly teenage girl, and it's shot at such an angle as to make the mole on her pale cheek look like a mere shadow. [continues 3537 words]
DENVER -- Minnesota's drug laws have torn the Botker family in half. Seven-year-old Greta Botker suffers from a rare, aggressive form of epilepsy. Seizures wracked her body a dozen or more times a day, and nothing -- not drug regimens, not special diets, not even brain surgery -- helped for long. Then the Botkers heard that in Colorado, where marijuana is sold legally, a cannabis strain known as Charlotte's Web appeared to dramatically decrease seizure rates in children like Greta. [continues 1654 words]
Any astute observer of the American sociocultural scene cannot ignore the increasing popular momentum for the realistic, practical acceptance of a broad range of non-violent human behavior, whether it be sexual preference or the decriminalization of the sale, possession and use of marijuana as a "recreational" narcotic, comparable to the use of alcohol. A growing number of states are legalizing weed, and I reflect upon my own experience in another age when I zealously became involved in the drug issue. [continues 887 words]
The First Time Amelia Weaver Had a Seizure, at 18 Months Old, Doctors Said It Was Likely the Consequence of a High Fever. HIBBING -- The first time Amelia Weaver had a seizure, at 18 months old, doctors said it was likely the consequence of a high fever. Keep an eye on her when she has a fever, doctors told the Hibbing infant's parents, Angie and Josh Weaver, but it's probably nothing to worry about. Amelia didn't have her next seizure until a year later. After that, she had so many that her mom stopped counting after she got to 1,000. [continues 1896 words]
I read the Jan. 19 editorial (Our View: "Medical marijuana measure not yet right for Minnesota"). I realize it was on the Opinion page, but holy cow, did the News Tribune leave its journalist hat at home when writing this? The editorial was nothing but anecdotes and statistics without context; it showed a complete lack of critical thinking. Decriminalize marijuana and you eliminate the alleged crime around medical marijuana dispensaries or any shop because, unlike the synthetic crap, anyone can grow a plant. [continues 241 words]
A Jan. 3 commentary was headlined "Marijuana use dulls the mind" and argued that marijuana is a gateway drug as well. Both of those statements are also true for alcohol, especially in regard to young users, and alcohol is a legal drug for adults. I'm neither in favor of nor opposed to marijuana legalization. I do know this, though: If we had spent as much money and time and energy on eliminating poverty and making education better as we have on trying to stop the use of marijuana (including what we've spent on drug agencies, prisons and housing prisoners, and on drug enforcement agencies) we would've greatly reduced the pockets of poverty in our country. Not only that, but in doing so we would most probably have done a better job of reducing drug use and or crime. [continues 61 words]
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom should stick to his role: enforcing, not writing, the law ("Backstrom firmly against medical use of marijuana," Dec. 1) Perhaps his most insulting claim is that marijuana is not medicine. While it's true that marijuana has not gone through the Federal Drug Administration approval process, that's due to federal obstruction of research, not its lack of medicinal value. Studies have shown marijuana is effective at treating several debilitating conditions, including wasting, intense nausea and intractable pain. [continues 105 words]
County Attorney Says It Would Be a Mistake for Minnesota to Legalize Marijuana for Medical Use. Expecting some state legislators to try again next year to legalize marijuana for medical uses, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom has reaffirmed his position against it. Backstrom, joined by Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows, held a forum and a news conference in West St. Paul Nov. 20 to oppose the legalization of marijuana for medical use as a danger to public health and safety. "Minnesota law enforcement officers and prosecutors have significant empathy for anyone suffering the ill effects of the serious medical diseases and conditions that 'medical' marijuana legislation is claimed to be needed for, but we also experience on a daily basis the pain and suffering that is directly and indirectly attributable to the illegal cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana," Backstrom said. [continues 486 words]
An important aspect of the story about Gophers head football coach Jerry Kill's predicament has gone unreported. If Kill were coaching at Michigan or Oregon or back in his previous job in Illinois, his doctors could take advantage of laws in those states to see if marijuana could successfully control his seizures. Marijuana is a natural herb, and in my view far less toxic than commonly prescribed anti-seizure pharmaceutical medications. For many patients it can be more effective. Wise physicians listen to what patients have learned. Scientists have shown the anti-convulsive properties of marijuana. [continues 144 words]
Rich Stanek's priorities are wrong. Some 1,300 smokers died today because of cigarettes. Some 225 alcohol drinkers died today because of the alcohol or alcohol related accidents. It's likely that no one died today because of marijuana use. Let's get our priorities straight and quit spending more than $30,000 a year to lock up some marijuana offenders. The only two entities that benefit from outlawing marijuana are the drug dealers and the prison systems. RICHARD BREITMAN, Minneapolis [end]
I have to chuckle a little, then shake my head in amazement at the letters sent in by people who think they know the drug world better than the people who work in it and fight against it, in this case Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek ("Lax marijuana enforcement puts us on a dangerous road," Sept. 18). The folks who wrote in and explained how legalizing marijuana would cut down on crime (Readers Write, Sept. 20) reminded me of a street person going into a bakery and explaining how dough rises to the baker. Some people just don't have a clue and need to leave this area to the experts. MARILYN MANGAN, Mound [end]
At Least It Was for Me, Until It Was Put Out of Reach. Though Minnesota has proven to be a progressive state, in the area of medical marijuana legalization it remains anchored in the past. I have been an MS sufferer for 35 years, and have used medical MJ for more than 20 - until this December past, when I became institutionalized. Its benefits are now forbidden to me. It offered me relief from pain, inflammation, stress, cramps and insomnia, and since I have stopped using it, my pain level has increased from 2 to 6, along with the severity of other symptoms that make my challenging life much less bearable. I have had no withdrawals or ill effects, nor have I been desirous of taking even stronger forbidden substances since stopping its use. Of course, I am able to use legal chemical painkillers (which have side effects and are much less effective) and one Valium in the evening for cramps. [continues 558 words]
In August, Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a striking change in federal narcotics policy. For the first time in decades, the Department of Justice took concrete steps to reduce the use of long-term prison sentences in the fight against illegal drugs. Holder seems to really believe in the cause, too; in an Aug. 12 speech to the American Bar Association, he asserted that "widespread incarceration at the federal, state, and local levels is both ineffective and unsustainable." The bare fact that the attorney general of the United States is taking such a strong position would be more remarkable but for the fact that several states have already acted to reduce the long-term incarceration of nonviolent narcotics defendants. Even Rick Perry's Texas has already done the hard work of thinning the ranks of low-level drug offenders in Lone Star State prisons. [continues 681 words]
You'll see plenty of politicians, parties and politics at the Minnesota State Fair. But keep walking up Cosgrove Street and you'll find the one fairground exhibit that tries to strip the partisanship out of politics to give visitors a bipartisan glimpse of the people in the People's House. At side-by-side House and Senate exhibits in the fair's Education Building, visitors can touch a crumbling chunk of the Capitol facade; pose for a picture, gavel in hand, behind a model of the speaker of the House's podium; take a poll; and meet a lawmaker. [continues 530 words]
Prosecutors Will Not File Criminal Charges Because the Hutchinson Officer Made the Disclosure With Immunity From Prosecution. A Hutchinson police officer admitted to superiors last fall that he gave people marijuana as part of a state training exercise in Minneapolis, a month after prosecutors declared they lacked sufficient evidence to charge him. The officer, Karl Willers, also told his department that between 30 and 40 percent of his training class distributed narcotics in order to perform observations, and that a coordinator of the program told them to get rid of the drugs after the allegations went public, according to a Hutchinson investigative report obtained through an open records request. [continues 1011 words]
As one who spent more than 20 years in law enforcement fighting the "drug war," I can attest to its absurd, futile and tragic nature. Tragic, in that many wonderful youngsters are irrevocably harmed by our reactionary punishment of recreational marijuana use. We'll never know how many people missed out on well-deserved careers, fell into severe depression or harmed themselves because of the impact of a minor infraction of experimenting with an innocuous drug. Further, as noted in the commentary, prescription drugs kill far more people than do cocaine and heroin combined. THOMAS EVANS, Bemidji, Minn. [end]
(In which we ponder the nanny state and harm done.) Minnesota legislators seem poised to follow the lead of 18 other states by legalizing medicinal marijuana in the next legislative session. While the effort is primarily a Democratic one, there is Republican support as well. Nevertheless, lawmakers are up against the same obstacle medical marijuana faced in 2009 - a reluctant governor. Mark Dayton remains adamant, as was Tim Pawlenty before him, about deferring to a powerful state interest whose support most politicians covet: law enforcement. Indeed, the governor's spokesperson declared in the waning days of the 2013 session that Dayton won't support any legislation on the issue so long as groups like the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association oppose it. [continues 1271 words]
Medical marijuana was not among the alternative pain relief methods mentioned in the last Sunday's article ("For those in pain, changes fuel fears," June 23). Why hasn't this gotten off the ground in Minnesota? It does what it's supposed to do - relieve pain - with much fewer adverse effects than oxycodone or other narcotics. It should be considered alongside other nonpharmacological interventions, because it works. Minnesota needs to catch up with the several states giving compassionate options to the chronically ill. Northfield, Minn. [end]
Deaths and hospital admissions linked to meth are climbing. With heroin and other opiate use remaining at what experts call alarmingly high levels, there's new cause for concern: Methamphetamine is back. The resurgence of the dangerous, addictive meth is described in a new report on drug trends in the Twin Cities by Carol Falkowksi, a private consultant and former drug abuse strategy czar for Minnesota. Meth overdose deaths rose from 10 to 21 from 2011 to 2012 in Ramsey and Hennepin counties alone, there are more emergency-room admissions and the number of meth labs is beginning to creep up again after state and federal efforts to shutter them a half-dozen years ago, she said. [continues 417 words]
An increasingly available option for medical patients suffering chronic pain -- medical marijuana -- should be avoided by teens, Mayo Clinic researchers say in an upcoming publication. A commentary, to be published in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, relies on findings from cases involving three high school-age patients at Mayo's pediatric chronic pain clinic, who said they used marijuana regularly. Despite their use, the teens' pain worsened. They reported impaired function and had difficulty becoming more socially active, according to a summary of the report. [continues 311 words]
Why would Gov. Mark Dayton listen to the police over the medical community when considering the value of medical marijuana? ("Medical marijuana supporters push for legalization," May 3.) A front-page story the same day noted that suicide deaths have risen sharply among baby boomers because we have such easy access to prescription pain killers, drugs that are easy to take in a large enough amount to kill us. Are we outlawing them because they kill people? Heck, no, even though they are widely abused by all age groups, including young people. [continues 86 words]
It Won't Happen This Session, but Bipartisan Effort Looks to the Next. Legislators are disagreeing on a lot of big issues, but they found a bit of common ground Thursday - medical marijuana. It's too late to push a bill through this session, but about 40 legislators in both parties, including more than a dozen committee chairmen, sent a strong signal that they want to add Minnesota to the 18 states where marijuana can be legally prescribed. Legislators passed the legalization of medical marijuana in 2009, but were stopped by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who vetoed the bill. [continues 592 words]
This does not mean giving the thumbs-up to drug use. There can be no doubt that recreational drug use can ruin lives. However, a felony conviction can be even more devastating. Does anyone think jailing a father who responsibly uses marijuana does him, his economic prospects, or his family any good? The president of the United States is a former recreational marijuana user, even publicly thanking his pot-smoking buddies in his high school yearbook. Does anyone think that the course of Barack Obama's life would have been improved by an arrest when he was young? [continues 731 words]
Kersten criticizes lawyers for considering the complexities. But why shouldn't they? Katherine Kersten did her own dance around the truth in "Of race, crime statistics and victimhood" (April 7). In her rush to expose a liberal-lawyer conspiracy, she did exactly what she accuses others of doing. She approached a highly complex issue with simplistic jargon such as "the new victim class," failed to recognize the irrefutability of some of the facts and glossed over an issue that has profound implications for all of us and how we live together. [continues 447 words]
The Twin Cities Legal Community Is Dancing Around the Truth Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. The latest cause celebre for prominent lawyers and judges in Minneapolis is the rights of a new, disenfranchised class of victims who, we're told, can't vote, serve on juries, or - in some cases - live in public housing. Who's this new victim class? Murderers, robbers, rapists, and dealers and users of illegal drugs - in short, convicted felons. People incarcerated for felonies are disproportionately black, the argument goes, so laws that deprive felons of certain civil rights that law-abiding citizens enjoy are the racist equivalent of poll taxes in the Jim Crow South. [continues 716 words]
A Dec. 31 article ("Drugs and thugs slide down priority scale") reported that criminal prosecutions for drug crimes have dropped significantly at the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis under the leadership of B. Todd Jones. There are those, apparently, who are concerned about this, and to them and others, I would suggest a book: Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow." Alexander argues convincingly that the new Jim Crow is the mass incarceration of black and Latino men convicted of drug crimes. She suggests that the war on drugs initiated during the Reagan administration unfairly and disproportionately targets these men. She supports her conclusions with significant data. A few examples: 1) the large increase in the prison populations in the last 20 years is primarily due to drug arrests; 2) the overwhelming percentage of arrests are for possession, with few of the dealers being charged, and 3) the vast majority of drug users are white, but the vast majority of those in prison are black or Latino. [continues 54 words]
U.S. Attorney Says Office Is Focused On Bigger, More Time-Consuming Crimes. Criminal prosecutions have dropped dramatically at the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis under the leadership of B. Todd Jones, rankling some in law enforcement. A Star Tribune analysis of federal prosecutions in Minnesota in the past six fiscal years shows that significantly fewer people are being charged -- especially those involved in drug crimes. Drug suspects made up 60 percent of the defendants charged under former U.S. Attorneys Thomas Heffelfinger and Rachel Paulose in 2006. Under Jones they account for just 36 percent, and illustrate a major shift in the office's priorities. [continues 825 words]
Voters Passed a Measure Legalizing Marijuana for Recreational Use. The election is over. The advertisements, the phone calls, the canvassers, the pundits, the mailers and the social media posts have stopped. For all the efforts nationally, it appears that the status quo remains intact: Democrats in the White House and the Senate will oppose a Republican Congress. Will anything change from the last two years? Only time will tell. However, at the state level, ballot measures had a field day. Obviously, Minnesota voted "no" on an amendment to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. Washington, Maryland and Maine outright legalized gay marriage via ballot measures. Montana and Massachusetts passed medical marijuana reform initiatives. And Colorado and Washington legalized personal use of marijuana outright for those 21 and over. [continues 453 words]
Just more than a year ago synthetic marijuana was sold over the counter in Rochester at adult bookstores and some gas stations. Outright sales of the drug, however, largely fell off a year ago when selling it became a misdemeanor, said Jim Martinson, chief deputy county attorney for Olmsted County. So, on Wednesday, when a new state law goes into effect making it a felony to sell the designer drugs meant to mimic marijuana and other controlled substances, there shouldn't be a spike in court cases here, he said. [continues 260 words]
MANKATO - A Mankato head shop has pulled incense products that also contained intoxicating chemicals after federal and state agents raided a similar store in Duluth Wednesday. An employee at Smokes 4 Less said owner Omar Wazwaz decided to take that type of incense off store shelves Thursday after hearing reports of the raids in Duluth and elsewhere. The incense was going to be available at the store through the end of the month, but Wazwaz changed his mind after the raids, she said. [continues 626 words]
ST. PAUL - More synthetic drugs will be illegal under a law taking effect Wednesday, and a state agency will be able to act faster to make newly developed versions illegal. Still, as makers of the so-called "designer drugs" continue to change chemical formulas to skirt the law, there will be lags between when a new drug is released and it is declared illegal. State officials and law enforcement officers said Thursday that so much about the drugs known by names such as spice and 2C-E is not known, other than they threaten Minnesota's youth. [continues 414 words]
Inside Minnesota
