Minnesota could become number 13 on a list some view as unwelcome as that number.
A dozen states - including Colorado, Hawaii, Montana and Nevada - have laws allowing medical use of marijuana, beginning with California legislation passed in 1996. Although these laws prevent medical marijuana users from state prosecution, no state can exempt patients from federal prosecution for marijuana use.
The Minnesota Medical Marijuana Bill, SF 345, is headed to the House after The House Ways and Means Committee voted 13-4 on April 9 to advance the measure. The bill was passed by the Senate last year, so if passed by the House, it will be put into the hands of Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The bill's future rests on Pawlenty's decision, and he has signaled recently that he sides with law enforcement and opposes the bill.
If passed, however, it would allow qualifying patients with serious illnesses to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for medical purposes.
According to Bruce Mirken, the communications director of the Marijuana Policy Project, "To be eligible you have to file your recommendation from a doctor with the state and be registered with the state of Minnesota." These registered patients would "receive an ID card from the state, which will allow law enforcement or anybody that needs to, to quickly identify who is a legal patient," he said.
MPP is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States, working to pass state legislation for medical marijuana and lobby the federal government to change their policy. The organization is comprised of about 24,000 dues-paying members across the country.
Marijuana and its medical implications have stirred a controversial debate in recent years. Its medicinal value has been cited spanning more than 5,000 years ago to Ancient China, but it has been illegal in the United States for more than 70 years, since the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act passed. This act was later deemed unconstitutional because of tax stamp implications, and was repealed by the Controlled Substances Act of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.
"Federally through the DEA, the government is still saying there is no medically accepted use for marijuana," said Roy Kammer, assistant professor and coordinator of alcohol and drug studies at Minnesota State University. "In these state laws, they are just really eliminating some of the criminal aspects of possessing medical marijuana."
Despite doctor and patient suggestions as well as numerous studies with evidence of the medicinal value of marijuana, the federal government recognizes marijuana as a Schedule I drug, a dangerous drug with no medicinal value.
Kammer has worked primarily in the college setting as mental health counselor, alcohol and drug counselor and educator and is the state coordinator for Minnesota as part of The Network: addressing collegiate alcohol and other drug issues.
There are many sides to this heated argument, so when researching the subject, it is important to evaluate the accuracy of the information and identify the source.
"Sometimes, two very different sources can be reflecting on the same study with the same information, and they could look at it in two very different ways," Kammer said. "I think it gets really confusing sorting out what's viable, what's credible and what to believe. There are bodies of literature that support either side of the argument, and can often include personal biases."
Advocates of the bill recently released the first in a new series of TV ads featuring seriously ill patients urging Minnesotans to persuade Pawlenty not to veto the bill in an effort to protect suffering Minnesotans from being criminalized for using doctor-recommended marijuana. The ad features Minneapolis resident Lynn Rubenstein Nicholson, who suffers intractable pain after enduring numerous surgeries as a result of back pain.
The American College of Physicians - a 124,000-member physicians group, the second largest in the U.S. - recently released a statement recognizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. The statement cited potential medical uses of marijuana: appetite stimulation, antiemetic, glaucoma, neurological and movement disorders and analgesic. This statement supports medicinal marijuana and could help ground the bill in legislation.
Mirken has worked with many patients who testify they need marijuana. He said the illnesses of these patients include cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, severe nausea/vomiting and intractable pain.
Technology has given new opportunity to study the effects and safety of marijuana in recent years.
"There's been some new study data published over the last several years that show marijuana can relieve nausea and vomiting and help stimulate appetite - serious problems that can be results of various illnesses - but also side effects of drugs used to treat those illnesses," Mirken said.
He also said these side effects can be a major reason why some people miss doses or discontinue therapy, and new study data have shown that patients with these illnesses and conditions who use marijuana are more likely to stay on treatment. Mirken also said patients use marijuana to reduce pain, often intractable or neuropathy pain.
"It has now been shown in several clinical trials that marijuana clearly helps in people who are often not getting relief from much more dangerous and much more addictive prescription medication," Mirken said.
MPP maintains the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate it in a manner similar to alcohol.
When the effects and risks of marijuana are assessed, they are often compared with alcohol, a legal and socially accepted drug.
Kammer said both alcohol and marijuana have consequences, but because alcohol is socially accepted and commercialized, there is more support and research on it.
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