Reality Check: Medical Marijuana Path To Approval?

WCCO - Minneapolis, MN

For the second time in two days, a Minnesota legislative committee on Wednesday approved a bill to allow desperately ill patients to smoke marijuana to ease their pain. And although medical marijuana appears to be on a path to approval, opposition is mounting.

But how solid are the claims against medical marijuana?

Advocates say the chemical found in marijuana can ease many symptoms of serious and terminal diseases.

Joni Whiting of Jordan, Minn. watched her daughter die in 2003, suffering so terribly from cancer pain she found a way to get marijuana illegally. She dared the legislature to arrest her.

"For this government to deny those who need medical marijuana to lessen the severity of their pain, nausea and seizures is unjustifiable," Whiting told a legislative committee Wednesday.

IN FACT...

Minnesota could allow marijuana for more than just terminal illness under a bill making its way through the legislature. Patients could also use it to ease the pain from cancer, glaucoma, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and HIV.

Under the bill they would be able to get up to 2.5 ounces from a state sanctioned supplier or grow their own, up to 12 plants.

But smoking pot for any reason remains a cultural stigma. Like an from the 1960s educational film "Keep Off The Grass".

"Mac takes Tom to a psychedelic shop -- a head shop. The place is something else. Outta sight. A pot smoker's supermarket. A psychodelicatessan," said the narrator.

That's NOT THE WHOLE STORY:

Thirteen states have already enacted laws to legalize pot for desperately ill patients; most recently Michigan, just last year.

YOU NEED TO KNOW...

Fifty medical groups support medical marijuana and research is promising, but it's not conclusive. The American Medical Association is opposed but says research should continue. The Minnesota Medical Association is neutral.

The American Cancer Society says the effects of marijuana are mixed. And the Food and Drug Administration opposes it.

But the REALITY is this:

The biggest impediment to medical marijuana is NOT medical research. Its politics, and police, who remain solidly opposed.

"It is against federal law," said Michael Campion, Minnesota's Commissioner of Public Safety. "It puts Minnesota's criminal justice system in conflict with our federal partners here in Minnesota."

Dispensing pot is against federal law even in states where it is legal. However, President Barack Obama is signaling he won't interfere with that.

That's Reality Check.

Date: 03/11/09