Mar 24, 2006 7:35 am US/Central
Medical Marijuana Bill Clears Senate Committee
St. Paul (AP) ―
Irvin Rosenfeld urged a Senate committee Thursday to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Then he stepped outside the Capitol and lit up a joint.
For him, it was perfectly legal.
Rosenfeld, who suffers from a rare bone disease, said he has smoked 10 to 12 marijuana cigarettes a day for 25 years and is one of a handful of people left in a federal program that supplies him regularly with free marijuana.
The Florida stockbroker said he was expected to die from his disease in his teens, but that he's alive and well at 53 because marijuana's anti-inflammatory properties have prevented tumor growths on his bones.
If it's any comfort to critics of marijuana, he said, it "does nothing" for him in terms of pleasure or getting high.
Rosenfeld and former users of medical marijuana won over the Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee. It approved the medical marijuana bill on a 6-5 party-line vote, with DFLers in support and Republicans opposed.
The bill has cleared three committees in the Senate, its furthest progress ever, but that's likely as far as it will get this session.
Lobbyist Tom Lehman of Minnesotans for Compassionate Care acknowledged that prospects remain dim in the Republican-controlled House, but he said its continued progress is a sign that Minnesota may eventually join 11 other states that have legalized medical marijuana under tightly regulated conditions.
Opponents, led by Sen. Tom Neuville, R-Northfield, said the bill doesn't have enough safeguards to prevent misuse of the drug.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
