Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 8:20 am | By: Radical Russ
First the good news:
(Twin Cities Pioneer Press) After a decade of debate, the Minnesota House and Senate have passed versions of a bill that would sanction medical marijuana use in the state.
The House — taking up the issue for the first time — narrowly approved a version this evening, 70-64. The Senate, which had approved a version last month, then approved the House’s version 38-28.
The bill now heads to Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Now the bad news:
The House version was narrowed considerably from the Senate bill. A provision allowing patients to grow their own marijuana plants was removed, and a controversial amendment restricted the use of marijuana to terminally ill patients suffering a debilitating illness.
The latter amendment removes medical marijuana eligibility for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy who need the drug to combat nausea.
A medical marijuana law that doesn’t allow cancer patients to use it? Only terminally ill patients? And they can’t grow their own, they must get their medicine from state-licensed dispensaries? Let’s see, who’s not terminally ill… federal marijuana patient Elvy Musikka wouldn’t qualify for her glaucoma. Federal marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld wouldn’t qualify for his painful bone disease. People living with AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s, Alzheimer’s, they’re not necessarily terminal. Certainly chronic migraines and other chronic pain wouldn’t qualify. Same goes for the chronic nausea common among gastro-intestinal disorders.
Gov. Pawlenty has promised to veto the medical marijuana bill and as amended, I can’t say I’d be too broken up about that. Most Minnesotans aren’t going to realize how flawed this bill is and if the Governor signs it, much of the public will be satisfied that they are the 14th medical marijuana state and the issue will subside. Better that he veto this awful bill. It will stir up reaction to medical marijuana passing the House and Senate but being stymied by one man, which will help efforts to run medical marijuana as a statewide initiative for a constitutional amendment. The initiative would have to have better language (at least protect cancer patients, for gawdsakes!) and as a constitutional amendment, it would be far safer from the meddling hands of law enforcement’s pawns in the House.
Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 7:42 pm | By: Radical Russ
Thank you _____! I appreciate hearing from you. FYI, I do not support the current [medical marijuana] proposal. If it is proposed to be handled like any other prescription drug, I would probably give it more consideration.
Norman Stamper, retired police chief of Seattle, WA and member of LEAP, relates a wrenching tale of medical marijuana brought back from his trip to Minnesota whose state lawmakers are entertaining a conservative, highly restrictive medical marijuana law. This is a long snip and I make no apologies. Hit the link at the end for the complete piece.
Ms. Whiting told the House’s Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee of her 26-year-old daughter Stephanie’s two-year battle with facial melanoma that surfaced during the young woman’s third pregnancy. The packed hearing room was dead quiet as Ms. Whiting spoke of Stephanie’s face being cut off “one inch at a time, until there was nothing left to cut.” She spoke of her daughter’s severe nausea, her “continuous and uncontrollable pain.”
Stephanie moved back to her family’s home and “bravely began to make plans for the ending of her life.” The tumors continued to grow, invading the inside and outside of her mouth, as well as her throat and chest. Nausea was a constant companion. Zofran and (significantly) Marinol, the synthetic pill version of THC, did nothing to abate the symptoms. Stephanie began wasting away. She lost all hope of relief.
Joni’s other children approached their mother, begged her to let their sister use marijuana. But Ms. Whiting, a Vietnam veteran whose youngest son recently returned from 18 months in Iraq, was a law-abiding woman. And she was afraid of the authorities. There was no way she would allow the illicit substance in her house. As she held her ground, her grownup kids removed Stephanie from the family home.
Three days later, wracked by guilt, Joni welcomed her daughter back. “I called a number of family members and friends…and asked if they knew of anywhere we could purchase marijuana. The next morning someone had placed a package of it on our doorstep. I have never known whom to thank for it but I remain grateful beyond belief.” The marijuana restored Stephanie’s appetite. It allowed her to eat three meals a day, and to keep the food down. She regained energy and, in the words of her mother, “looked better than I had seen her in months.”
Stephanie survived another 89 days, celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas with her family.
Shortly after the holidays, Stephanie’s pain became “so severe that when she asked my husband and me to lie down on both sides of her and hold her, she couldn’t stand the pain of us touching her body.”
Stephanie died on January 14, 2003 in the room she grew up in, holding her mother’s hand. A mother who, as she told the legislative committee, would “have no problem going to jail for acquiring medical marijuana for my suffering child.”
Following Joni Whiting’s presentation, it was all I could do to hold it together during my own testimony. Such was the power of this one woman’s story. And of the sadness and rage roiling inside me as I reflected on the countless other Stephanies who are made to suffer not only the ravages of terminal illness and intractable pain but the callousness and narrow-mindedness of their leaders.
That’s some A-list comedy material coming out of Minnesota, isn’t it? It took the president how long to apologize for an offhanded Special Olympics comment? One day. How long will we wait?
I’ll mince no words: I smoke marijuana recreationally because I like to get high. I want to see marijuana legalized in my lifetime so I can enjoy my vice the same as cigarette smokers and alcohol drinkers. That said, if I could make medical marijuana legal today for people like Stephanie at the price of another 40 year wait for me to have ‘fun’, I wouldn’t hesitate.
Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 5:00 pm | By: Radical Russ
The Minnesota House Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee voted 9-6 in favor of H.F. 292, the medical marijuana bill. This was the toughest committee the bill had to face in the House, and we are now closer than ever to protecting seriously ill Minnesotans from arrest and prison for using their doctor-recommended medicine. We can expect to see the bill on the Senate and House floor within weeks, so it is crucial that your state legislators know you strongly support this bill. Please take a moment to contact them now and convey the importance of protecting the sick and dying in Minnesota
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Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 12:08 pm | By: Radical Russ
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA — The House version of Minnesota’s medical marijuana bill passed the House Civil Justice Committee this morning in a voice vote with no dissenting votes. The vote came after powerful testimony from Joni Whiting, whose adult daughter’s suffering was relieved by medical marijuana while she was undergoing treatment for the melanoma that eventually took her life.
“It really feels like the momentum is building and this is the year we’re going to get this done,” said Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing), sponsor of the Senate version of the bill. “One-quarter of the country now protects medical marijuana patients from arrest, and there is simply no reason to use Minnesota’s police resources to arrest the sick for trying to relieve their suffering.”
A previous version of the bill passed the Senate and every House committee in the 2007-2008 session, but was never brought up for a vote on the House floor.
Visit our Activist’s Alerts and contact your Minnesota rep (and this week, everybody is an honorary Minnesotan!) to get this bill on the floor and passed!
Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 am | By: Radical Russ
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA – Minnesota’s medical marijuana bill, H.F. 292, cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives today, passing the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee in a vote of 9 to 6. The vote came after medical marijuana patients and others testified to the relief provided by medical marijuana when conventional treatments had failed.
“Before medical marijuana, I was in such pain I had no life,” said K.K. Forss of Ely, who suffers chronic, severe pain as a result of a ruptured disk in his neck and repeated surgeries on his neck and upper spine. “It was so horrible I wanted to die every day. No one should have to face a choice between suffering unbearably and risking arrest and jail.”
Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), sponsor of the bill, hailed the vote, saying, “Today’s vote is an important step toward protecting seriously ill Minnesotans. The evidence is clear that medical marijuana can help some patients who suffer terribly, and it’s time to protect these patients from arrest and jail.”
“This sensible, humane, bipartisan bill is modeled after laws that have been working well for years in states like Montana and Rhode Island,” said Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan). “We should not be using our scarce law enforcement dollars to arrest suffering patients for using a medicine their doctor has recommended.”
Thirteen states, comprising approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population, now permit medical use of marijuana under state law if a physician has recommended it. The newest such law was enacted by Michigan voters last November, passing with a record-setting 63 percent “yes” vote. Medical organizations which have recognized marijuana’s medical uses include the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and American College of Physicians, which noted “marijuana’s proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its relatively low toxicity,” in a statement issued last year.
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota’s medical marijuana bill, H.F. 292, cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives today, passing the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee in a vote of 9 to 6. The vote came after medical marijuana patients and others testified to the relief provided by medical marijuana when conventional treatments had failed.
“Before medical marijuana, I was in such pain I had no life,” said K.K. Forss of Ely, who suffers chronic, severe pain as a result of a ruptured disk in his neck and repeated surgeries on his neck and upper spine. “It was so horrible I wanted to die every day. No one should have to face a choice between suffering unbearably and risking arrest and jail.”
Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), sponsor of the bill, hailed the vote, saying, “Today’s vote is an important step toward protecting seriously ill Minnesotans. The evidence is clear that medical marijuana can help some patients who suffer terribly, and it’s time to protect these patients from arrest and jail.”
“This sensible, humane, bipartisan bill is modeled after laws that have been working well for years in states like Montana and Rhode Island,” said Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Jordan). “We should not be using our scarce law enforcement dollars to arrest suffering patients for using a medicine their doctor has recommended.”
Thirteen states, comprising approximately one-quarter of the U.S. population, now permit medical use of marijuana under state law if a physician has recommended it. The newest such law was enacted by Michigan voters last November, passing with a record-setting 63 percent “yes” vote. Medical organizations which have recognized marijuana’s medical uses include the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and American College of Physicians, which noted “marijuana’s proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its relatively low toxicity,” in a statement issued last year.
I’d only quibble that Washington DC’s medical marijuana law passed with a record 69% vote, but they are prevented from implementing the law by the Barr Amendment.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
SneakerPimp: and good afternoon
mr reuben: I could do without seeing Rob K. on tv. But Bruce and Eithan get a big thumbs up from me.
SneakerPimp: waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
mr reuben: I don't respect her opinion bluzguy.
Missippi Hippy: Something about the last year in a contract... folks become more ballsey... and Oprah has big ones.
Adam: Oprah won't actually go off air for over a year, 2011 sometime. Maybe with here leaving the network soon, she'll be more likely to speak out about MMJ.
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Minnesota House passes medical marijuana 70-64; on to Gov. Pawlenty’s veto
First the good news:
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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