STUDENT QUESTIONED ABOUT DAD'S USE OF POT

The Controversy Surrounding a Bill to Allow the Use of Medical
Marijuana Hits Home for a Junior-High Student in Brooklyn Park.

Shannon Pakonen told a House committee Thursday that his 15-year-old
son, Sam, was interrogated this week by a teacher at Brooklyn Junior
High School in Brooklyn Park about his father's use of marijuana for
medical purposes.

The incident, Pakonen said, demonstrates the need for legislation to
authorize medical use of the drug.

Lisa Hunter Jensen, the Osseo School District's director of
school/community relations, said the district had only sketchy
information about the incident from the school's principal but said
the district is investigating the matter further.

Telephone calls and e-mails to the school's principal and assistant
principal as well as the Osseo School District's superintendent and
school board members were not returned Thursday.

Sam Pakonen was pulled out of math class and told to report to his
speech teacher, his father said. While there, the teacher asked him
about his father. Were there marijuana plants in his house? Did he
ever see his father smoke pot?

No, he replied.

That was on Tuesday. Two days earlier, Sam's father, Shannon, had
been quoted in a Star Tribune story about a bill in the Legislature
to allow the use of medical marijuana in the state. He was quoted
saying he occasionally used marijuana to reduce tics and spasms
caused by Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder. Shannon
Pakonen had also testified in support of the bill last month in a
Senate committee hearing.

On Thursday, Shannon Pakonen relayed Sam's story to members of the
House Health and Human Services Committee, which took testimony on
the medical marijuana bill and could vote on the measure as early as today.

"My son should not have to be treated like a criminal on the basis
that he is my son," Pakonen told the committee.

Sam Pakonen was in the audience. After the hearing he retold the
story. He said he was told to report to the speech teacher because
his physical education teacher reported having difficulty
understanding him. He was born prematurely and has several
developmental disabilities. While he said he sometimes has difficulty
with his speech, the physical education teacher had never made that
claim in seven months of having him in his class.

The speech teacher asked the questions about the marijuana.

Measure Stirs Controversy

Shannon Pakonen, who said he obtains the marijuana from friends and
does not smoke it in front of his son, said the actions at the school
help illustrate the problems associated with the medical use of
marijuana today.

A proposal that would have Minnesota join eight other states in
approving such use has bipartisan support in the House and Senate but
Gov. Tim Pawlenty opposes the measure, fearing that it sends the
wrong message about the dangers of the drug.

Other opponents, such as the Minnesota Family Council and the
Minnesota County Attorneys Association, have testified that marijuana
could end up in the wrong hands.

Pakonen said he called an assistant principal at the school to
complain on Wednesday and was told the physical education teacher was
curious because she suffered from chronic pain. He was told that Sam
had brought up the issue of medical marijuana. The boy said that
never happened.

"I think they were trying to make the case to take my son away from
me," Shannon Pakonen said after the hearing. "They want to victimize
someone. I was going to be punished for exercising my right to speak out."

While unfamiliar with the specifics of the case, Barry Feld, a
professor at the University of Minnesota law school specializing in
juvenile justice, said police, teachers or other people in authority
have a right to ask about allegations of impropriety, particularly if
it involves potential child abuse or neglect.

"They would certainly be in a position to ask the kid about what goes
on in the house," Feld said.

But Feld said there are statutes protecting family communications
from being used against someone.

"It's to encourage kids to talk to their parents about problems," he said.

One of the measure's supporters is Rep. Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, a
former House speaker who once opposed the use of medical marijuana
but has since signed on as a co-author.

"This is an example of why we need to pass this kind of bill,"
Sviggum said after being told about the school incident.