WAITING FOR WEDNESDAY

Advocates for medical marijuana are awaiting the results of the Nov. 2
election, which will factor into the success or failure of their causes.

Dr. Philip Denney walked into an examination room in his Sacramento,
Calif., office and sat across from a 19-year-old who complained of
insomnia.

As Denney considered the teen's chains, piercings and tattoos, the
patient asked him for a marijuana prescription.

Denney's skepticism was confirmed by a quick look at his medical
history. Denney declined the request, walked into the next room and
rolled his eyes when he saw his next patient. Another one, he thought.

"It could have been his twin," he said.

He was shocked to find this patient had an aggressive form of bone
cancer and would likely die within a year. Denney wrote a prescription
for marijuana to help him cope with the pain.

For more than a decade, legislators and activists in Minnesota have
been fighting to legalize medical marijuana -- to give doctors the
option of a controversial treatment Denney has been able to prescribe
since 1996.

Pitted against law enforcement, concerned citizens and social stigma,
proposed legislation nearly became law in 2009 but was vetoed by Gov.
Tim Pawlenty.

To say the movement has lost steam in the past year would be an
understatement.

National advocacy groups have shifted attention to other states, faced
with a bleak outlook for passing legislation in Minnesota's near future.

A Champion Departing

Tuesday, Oct. 26 was one of the last days Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red
Wing, would spend in his office at the State Capitol. After 18 years
in the Senate, Murphy is not seeking re-election.

Murphy has been the chief author of medical marijuana bills in the
Senate for the past two legislative sessions.

"It's not a conservative, liberal or independent type of issue," he
said. "It's kind of common sense."

A bill to protect patients using marijuana from criminal penalties has
been introduced in both the Minnesota House of Representatives and
Senate every legislative session since 1995.

The effort broke through in 2009 when a bill passed in both
legislative bodies for the first time.

Murphy and his team of co-authors and lobbyists made their case with
the aid of testimonies from people whose lives marijuana had changed
for the better -- stories so emotional, "even a statue of Abraham
Lincoln is going to weep," Murphy said.

Among the opponents who testified was Tom Prichard, president of the
Minnesota Family Council. Prichard warned of marijuana's dangers and
what legalization for medicinal purposes could lead to.

"While it's directed at medical issues ... we think the major impetus is
an effort to legalize it more broadly, and that just has negative
consequences," Prichard said in an interview.

In the hours before the final vote, an amendment was added to restrict
use to terminally ill patients. Had the bill passed, it would have
established the strictest medical marijuana program in the country.

Pawlenty vetoed the bill days later, citing law enforcement opposition
to the bill.

"Marijuana poses serious public safety and health risks," Pawlenty
wrote in the veto statement. "Legalized medicinal use could serve to
compound these problems."

By January 2010, Murphy was wrestling with whether to introduce a bill
again.

"We decided to forego that futility and wait until things in the
political spectrum change," Murphy said.

Advocates and legislators began looking ahead to the governor's race
and 2011. Heather Azzi, spokeswoman for Minnesotans for Compassionate
Care, a group that lobbied for medical marijuana legalization, said in
February that a law was inevitable.

"We proved to them that this is going to happen," Azzi said at the
time.

Eight months later, it's not so certain.

'Wait and See'

Minnesota was once part of the Marijuana Policy Project's 2010
Strategic Plan -- as one of five states where it planned to pass
medical marijuana bills in 2011.

The state's name is now absent from that list. Minnesotans for
Compassionate Care -- one of MPP's state chapters -- has folded.
Contracts for MPP lobbyists in Minnesota weren't renewed.

"They have some real financial problems," said Randy Asunma, a former
lobbyist who worked on the 2009 bill in Minnesota. "Their fundraising
was down significantly, and Minnesota got eliminated."

"Unfortunately, right now it's a 'wait and see,'" Bob Capecchi, an MPP
legislative analyst, said of the situation in Minnesota. The results
of the election will determine whether they push the issue with the
next governor.

No Gubernatorial Promises

Republican candidate Tom Emmer voted against the 2009 bill in the
House and has said on the campaign trail he supports Marinol, a pill
with synthetic THC -- the most potent compound in marijuana.

Independent Tom Horner also supports Marinol as an alternative but
said he may support medicinal marijuana as well, if production and
distribution were controlled by medical institutions.

Advocates for medical marijuana argue that Marinol isn't effective for
many patients.

Much like Pawlenty, Democratic nominee Mark Dayton has said he won't
support a bill that Minnesota law enforcement is uncomfortable with.
It's an issue Dayton "would consider with the Legislature next year,"
deputy campaign manager Katie Tinucci wrote in an e-mail.

Law enforcement has opposed any legislation.

"We have not changed our position, nor are we interested in any
attempts to compromise on a bill relative to this topic at this time,"
Dave Pecchia, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police
Association, wrote in an e-mail.

MCPA opposed the 2009 bill, which it said would increase potential for
drug abuse and provide more opportunities for criminals to profit.

Though Dayton has taken the same position as the outgoing governor,
University of Minnesota senior Zach Tauer, president of the University
chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said he sees the most
potential with the Democratic candidate.

"I think Dayton is probably more likely than Pawlenty to go against
law enforcement in that sense," Tauer said.

Marijuana As Medicine

"Despite the fact that [marijuana] has been used by human beings for
10,000 years with very little evidence of long-term harm, it's been
caught up in this political maelstrom since the '30s," Dr. Philip
Denney said.

Once a recreational marijuana user, Denney began studying its
properties and use in medicine at the University of Southern California.

The FDA's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug has made it
nearly impossible to research the alleged medicinal properties of marijuana.

With the surge of medical marijuana laws across the nation, last
November the American Medical Association called on the FDA to review
its classification of the drug.

What little research has been done is insufficient to support or
counter claims of marijuana's medicinal value, the AMA statement said.

Hamline University public policy professor David Schultz said the
advocates' key to passing a law is having the support of Minnesota
medical institutions.

"Cancer patients will help, but you're going to have to get some
organized interests to offset the law enforcement," Schultz said. "You
need that combination."

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virgina, said he doubts he'll introduce a bill
when the next legislative session begins. Rukavina was the chief
author of the 2009 House bill, but said economic and education issues
trump medical marijuana on his priority list this year.

Despite the lack of progress since January, Murphy is still confident
a bill will be passed, and soon.

"I just can't see a scenario where ... we can't get this done next
year," he said.