May 19, 2009
legislation, Medical Marijuana, Minnesotat
The latest news from Minnesota is a classic good news/bad news situation. The good news is that the state House of Representatives passed a medical marijuana bill, which is now on its way to the desk of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. This is the first time that a state legislature in the Midwest has ever passed a modern, effective medical marijuana bill.
The bad news is that before passing the bill, they watered it down seriously.
There are honest disagreements about this issue, but parts of the debate were just frivolous -- as when one member proposed an amendment to change the word "marijuana" in the bill to "pot." Really. I am not making this up.
That amendment failed, but the final version took out the ability of patients to grow their own medicine and limited the bill's protection to patients who are terminally ill. That leaves out an awful lot of patients who deserve protection, including K.K. Forss, whom I met last year while making presentations to newspaper editorial boards about the bill.
Politically, the legislature's action puts the governor in an interesting spot. He has previously signaled opposition, basically siding with law enforcement officials who claimed that the bill would be open to rampant abuse and would flood the state with marijuana. Those claims were always dubious, but with the bill so drastically narrowed, they're now downright ridiculous.
We hope the governor signs the bill, imperfect as it is. With a two-year sunset clause, there's a built-in opportunity to improve it in 2011. And the track record of improving flawed medical marijuana laws in other states is pretty good. Vermont, for example, passed a highly restricted medical marijuana law in 2004 and then broadened it significantly three years later, boosting the amount of marijuana patients may possess and increasing the number of medical conditions covered.
On the other hand, if the governor vetoes, there is a distinct possibility of placing a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot. That won't be easy, but it's possible.
Either way, K.K., we're not giving up.