MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILLS CURLING THROUGH LEGISLATURE

Medical marijuana bills are curling through the Legislature, a Senate
bill last week clearing yet another committee.

But state law enforcement opposes the legislation.

And their support is critical.

Medical marijuana initiative has advanced previous sessions but never
so far.

Supporters depict the illegal drug as offering pain relief to the
terminally ill and those afflicted with chronic pain.

A number of state health care organizations, including the Minnesota
Nurses Association and Minnesota AIDS Project, support access to
medical marijuana.

The legislation boasts bipartisan support -- representatives Chris
DeLaForest, R-Andover, Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, and Rick Hansen,
DFL-South St. Paul, back the House bill.

The Senate bill is authored by Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Redwing, and has
the backing of Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, Health and Human
Services Finance Committee chair, and a powerful figure in the Senate
DFL caucus.

The House bill, too, carries clout.

Rep. Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth, House Health Care and Human Services
Finance Committee chair, is the House author and the bill has the
backing of former House Speaker Rep. Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, friend
of Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, Minnesota County Attorney
Association president-elect, has repeatedly testified at the Capitol
in opposition to the medical marijuana legislation.

Marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug -- a federal Schedule I
Controlled Substance, he testified.

Many other medical substitutes -- one product derived from marijuana
- -- can be used to control the symptoms medical marijuana is suppose to
alleviate, he argued.

"The simple fact of the matter is that this law will harm more people
than it helps," he said.

The bill creates a "safe haven" for drug abuse, Backstrom
opined.

Bill critics have characterized marijuana as a "gateway" drug, one
easing the step of drug abuse from one to the next.

But backers argues there's no evidence that legalizing medical
marijuana increases crime.

They've indicated in committee that perhaps 200 Minnesotans -- a
number critics cite as vastly underestimated -- might be prescribed
medical marijuana should the bill becomes law.

Senate bill author Murphy backhanded the "gateway" drug argument in
committee..

A recovering alcoholic, Murphy said alcohol, not marijuana, is the
real gateway drug.

"We legalized the biggest gateway drug," he said of
alcohol.

Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes, DFL-Winona, spoke of the wisdom of
legislation such as medical marijuana coming up from the grassroots.

"I don't mean to make a joke about that," Ropes, a nurse, said in
Senate committee, of the unintended pun.

Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, in committee said he respectfully
disagreed with Backstrom.

DeLaForest, a conservative Republican, is comfortable backing medical
marijuana.

"I think medical marijuana is a conservative issue," he
said.

In states that have legalized medical marijuana, and things have gone
fine, said DeLaForest.

Minnesota would have strictest medical marijuana laws in the nation,
said DeLaForest.

The medical marijuana initiative, he opined, is an example of the
laboratories of the state at work.

And there's the human element.

"What about compassion?" DeLaForest asked.

Another conservative Republican lawmaker, Rep. Tom Hackbarth of Cedar,
is coauthoring the House bill.

He's witnessed too many of his friends and relatives die of cancer,
Hackbarth explained..

"That's why I signed up on the bill. And that's the only reason," he
said.

Hackbarth said some of the friends and relatives he lost --
Minnesotans -- used medical marijuana during their illness.

"Of course it's illegal -- but ya," he said of the
use.

Pawlenty wants a positive consensus among state law enforcement on
medical marijuana before he'd be willing to sign a bill.

But that doesn't seem likely to happen soon.

Bill Gillespie, of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association
- -- an association with about 8,500 members -- explained the
association does not support the legislation.

They're cops and they don't compromise on principles, an association
newsletter reads concerning medical marijuana.

"(There's) no room for movement," said Gillespie of the association's
stance on medical marijuana.

Backstrom, too, suggests an unbridgeable gulf between backers of
medical marijuana and the law enforcement community.

"There's no way the bill can be changed for the county attorneys'
association to support it or for state law enforcement to support it,"
he said.

Law enforcement opposes the bill.

They will not be neutral on it, he said.

If the bill passes the Legislature, Backstrom hopes the governor will
veto it.

Law enforcement is sympathetic to the suffering of people in pain,
Backstrom explained.

"Many of us have seen our friends and family suffering," said
Backstrom of the victims of cancer or HIV.

But medical marijuana is not the solution, he opined.