Minneapolis state senator Scott Dibble shepherded SF1641 through another committee hearing Friday morning, stopping at the HHS Division of the Minnesota Senate Finance Committee. During the hearing, Dibble agreed to compromise, excluding smoking as a means for patients to gain relief from medical cannabis.
However, senator Mary Kiffmeyer (R- Big Lake) proved to be an unintentional comic foil for the earnest Dibble as the hearing progressed.
Kiffmeyer isn't the only one baffled by the topic, since much of Minnesota's media seem obsessed with reporting whether patients will be able to smoke medical marijuana, while ignoring the more significance difference in the bills. The Senate bill legalizes medical marijuana and allows the creation of up to 55 alternative treatment centers, while the House bill authorizes medical cannabis drug trials rehashing Dayton's earlier offer of a study at Mayo Clinic.
Few media outlets are reporting this difference.
Kiffmeyer's cannabis questions
In the HHS division of the Senate Finance Committee this morning, Mary Kiffmeyer was in over her head, perplexed even by the use of the word "cannabis" or the concept of vaping and smoking. The Uptake has created a video digest of the spectacle:
Straight news on SF1641
There's a puzzling quality to much of the reportage on the Senate bill and the House "compromise." Reporters seem hung up on whether the bills allow smoking medical cannabis, neglecting to inform readers that the Senate bill --smoking allowed or not--legalizes medical marijuana for all qualifying patients and sets up a system of 55 tightly controlled dispensaries, while the House bill provides for clinical trials.
This tacit agreement on the part of much of Minnesota's media with House leadership and the winsome Melin to call a rebrewed version of Dayton's clinical trials seems designed to improve Dayton's re-election chances while preserving Thissen's majority. Read the language here. It's not legalization of medical marijuana.
Of the articles we've read, only Christopher Snowbeck at the Pioneer Press makes the most important distinction between the bills clear. He reports in Senate panel strips smoking option from medical pot bill; House stresses research:
Competing bills for medical marijuana advanced at the state Capitol on Friday, but not without changes in a Senate committee hearing and significant questions during another hearing in the House.
The House bill would give patients access to medical marijuana, but only as part of research studies -- a compromise put forward Thursday by House leaders in response to concerns from law enforcement groups.
Those groups have testified in opposition to a Senate bill for a statewide network of cannabis dispensaries that would supply medical marijuana to patients with a doctor's recommendation.
Testifying before the House Rules Committee, state Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger raised practical questions on Friday about implementing the research studies called for in legislation from Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing.
The bill directs the Health Department to identify a marijuana manufacturer who could supply medical cannabis to researchers. But Ehlinger said he wasn't sure such a supplier could be found in the timeline envisioned by the bill, especially since manufacturers must meet standards for the chemical consistency of marijuana they provide.
"It may be that some grower/manufacturer would be willing to make a substantial investment of this kind in Minnesota," Ehlinger said. "If so, that would be great."
"If not, we have no other mechanism for developing a manufacturing facility," he said. "Without that, the rest of the activities outlined in this bill could not move forward."
The bill proposes that the Health Department and researchers explore the possibility of obtaining marijuana from a supply maintained by the federal government for research purposes. But independent researchers say they've repeatedly been denied access to this supply for medical marijuana studies. . . .
This isn't legalization; it's Dayton's Research Study 1.2. As for the senate bill:
In the Senate's health finance committee on Friday, Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, amended his bill so that patients would not be allowed to smoke marijuana. Instead, they could take medical cannabis through vaporizers, or in the form of pills or liquids.
While the Associated Press report at CBS Minnesota fails to clarify the details of the House bill as a research study only, it does reveal the peculiar tactics House leaders choose to use yesterday before the "compromise" was released, although the reporter chooses to blame supporters of medical cannabis for jeopardizing passage of a research study rather than legalization.
Indeed, we're told:
Melin’s bill would allow children and adults suffering from severe illnesses to use medical marijuana, with the option of a state source for the drug if no federal source is available.
No mention of studies--stating that a "bill would allow children and adults suffering from severe illnesses to use medical marijuana" would lead readers to conclude that the drug is "allowed," rather than being tested in drug trials.
In Minnesota Medical Pot Rift Could Threaten Bill, we read:
Committees in both the House and Senate were debating competing legislation Friday. A Senate panel stripped the option of smoking marijuana as medication from its bill on Friday morning. But the House version is even more limited in how the drug may be accessed. If used in leaf form, for example, it could be done only through medically supervised delivery by vaporizer.
All 21 states, and the District of Columbia, which have legalized medical marijuana permit smoking the drug.
Note how there's no mention that this bill permits clinical studies only--while focusing on how the drug may be consumed.
While keeping the public in the dark about the most significant difference in the bill, the article does share the treatment of medical cannabis supporters before yesterday's press conference:
Melin did not inform several medical-marijuana supporters of her plan to announce new legislation on Thursday, activists said.
And, once they found out, Melin sequestered them in a room at the Capitol forbidding them to speak to other parents of children suffering from maladies that they believe marijuana could treat, said Azzi and several omitted parents.
Azzi has been a key ally of Melin’s and Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who sponsors that chamber’s bill. She has assisted both in the drafting of several versions of medical-marijuana legislation.
“My reaction was shock,” Azzi said of Melin’s actions. “She was my lead author and I trusted her.”
Interviewed after the House hearing, Melin said she didn’t think she excluded anyone.
“I tried to reach as many parents as I could, but I couldn’t reach them all,” Melin said. ..
As we were typing this, we did watch KARE-11's report at 10 p.m., which was very clear about the research studies; an earlier report by John Croman noted the limited number of people who will be served by the House bill.
Photo: Mary Kiffmeyer fights the War on Drugs, with weapons that seemed to have left her shellshocked in this morning's hearing.
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