Ventura Co-opted By The Narcs;
Lets Minnesota Medical Marijuana Bill Die Even As The IOM Report Is Issued

See
Minnesota and Medical Marijuana: Poll Shows That A Majority In All Parties Support It
As State Senate Committee To Hold Hearings – 2 Articles

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA BILL DEAD IN 1999 LEGISLATURE
March 18. 1999
From The Saint Paul Pioneer Press
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By Patrick Sweeney

Lacking Consensus, Sponsor Withdraws House Legislation

A bill to remove criminal penalties for Minnesotans who use marijuana to cope with pain and other symptoms of serious illness is dead for this legislative session.

On Wednesday night, Sen. Pat Piper, DFL-Austin, the chief Senate author of the legislation, asked for an indefinite postponement of a committee vote on her bill. Because the Legislature has a Friday deadline for initial committee action on most bills, Piper’s bill will not officially come back before lawmakers for a vote until at least next January.

Piper said she and representatives of Gov. Jesse Ventura plan to spend the next 10 months or so trying to work out an acceptable compromise that would allow Minnesota to remove its criminal penalties for the medicinal use of marijuana—and also protect patients from exposure to federal anti-drug laws. She said hearings may be held on the legislation this summer and fall.

"I believe we will be able to have something that will go into law in the future," Piper said.

Charlie Weaver, Ventura’s public safety commissioner, said: "We have pledged the administration will work with her."

Weaver said a new federal study performed by the Institute of Medicine, and commissioned by the President’s Office on National Drug Control Policy, might help win a federal waiver for a Minnesota research project on the use of marijuana as a medicine.

But Darrell Paulsen, a South St. Paul man who said he smokes marijuana to relieve symptoms of cerebral palsy, denounced Weaver’s insistence on a federal waiver as unrealistic.

Paulsen, who once was sentenced to probation on state marijuana possession charges, drove his motorized wheelchair into Weaver and Piper’s joint news conference and accused Weaver and Ventura of failing to make good on the governor’s campaign pledge to support medicinal use of marijuana.

"This is not reality, folks," Paulsen said, referring to Weaver’s discussion of a federal waiver. "That is not going to happen, as much as he would like it to happen."

Paulsen, who was a candidate for lieutenant governor on the Grassroots Party ticket last fall, said he is one of 165 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit in Philadelphia that challenges the application of federal drug laws to the medicinal use of marijuana.

(Marijuananews note: I first met Darrell when I was at NORML. He is a remarkable young man. He came to Philadelphia for the hearings. He is a plaintiff in the Class Action. See www.fairlaw.org
and
An Exceptionally Well-Informed Article In The Philadelphia Inquirer;
They Caught On and Are Catching Up Fast.
The Impact of The Class Action As A Catalyst )

In large part, Piper’s decision to postpone a vote was a recognition that its passage this year was a long shot. Without strong support from Weaver and Ventura, the bill would have faced stiff opposition in the Legislature, especially in the Republican-controlled House.

But Weaver said the Institute of Medicine study, released Wednesday in Washington, might spur federal approval of Minnesota-based clinical studies of marijuana.

"It certainly indicates the federal government may be more inclined to take down some of the roadblocks, at least to research," he said.

Piper’s bill would have removed criminal penalties for possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana by people who suffered from serious illnesses and whose doctors had recommended the drug.

But Weaver repeatedly said that those patients could face federal prosecution, and anyone who sold them the drug could face both state and federal charges.

(Marijuananews note: That is absurd. The Feds cannot prosecute small marijuana possession cases. The point is to bring pressure on the Feds to allow a legal supply. Now the patients can still be arrested by the state police.)

"As it is today, I can’t support it, and neither can the governor, because it forces Minnesotans to become criminals,"
(Marijuananews note: No, it would not force them to become criminals. It would have allowed them not to become criminals under state laws. Is he that stupid or does he think that the people are?)
Weaver said in an interview Wednesday afternoon before the postponement was announced.

Patrick Sweeney, who covers state government and politics, can be contacted at psweeney@pioneerpress.com