During last year's debate over medical cannabis in the Minnesota legislature, there was no greater opponent than former Douglas County sheriff and current state senator Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria).
He's not given up on fighting the weed with roots in hell, battling now against cannabis' non-buzzworthy form, industrial hemp, according to Minnesota senator worries that hemp would lead to legal marijuana, an article by Forum Communications political reporter Don Davis:
"To me, it is baby steps toward recreational marijuana and I think we will find that out by the end of the session," Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said Wednesday after a committee approved a bill to allow hemp to be grown by researchers.
Ingebrigtsen predicted attempts will be made to amend the hemp bill to include recreational marijuana use. Minnesota law allows a limited use of medical marijuana, but recreational use remains illegal. . . .
Many law enforcement officials oppose legalizing hemp because it looks so much like marijuana that they say the illegal plant could be hidden within a hemp field.
No problem, says a lobbyist for a statewide family farmer organization whose members support adding industrial hemp to their rotations:
Thom Petersen of Minnesota Farmers Union said the only legal problem Canada had when it legalized hemp years ago was that people would steal it out of fields. They were disappointed when they tried to smoke it and it did not give them a high, Petersen said, adding that the thefts only lasted a year or two.
We concur. Before the Drug Enforcement Administration lead an effort to eradicate feral hemp (a.k.a, ditch weed), the plant was a widespread weed in rural Minnesota. Bluestem's editor is old enough to remember that the local back-to-the-land hippies didn't harvest and smoke it, but it was highly regarded as habitat and food for wild birds.
One of the ironies in the story is that while Ingebrigtsen is adamant against allowing Minnesota farmers to gain a share of the profitable hemp industry, the House author for Eken's bill, Mary Franson, represents half of his district. Ingebrigtsen showed up at the area's Republican endorsing convention last spring and actively campaigned for Sue Nelson, who had attempted to make Franson's support for industrial hemp an issue.
Like Ingebrigtsen, Franson voted against making medical cannabis legal; unlike Ingebrigtsen, she's as smart as an old-school hippie and modern farmers about ditch weed.
Photo: A screengrab of Senator Ingebrigtsen during one of last session's floor debate on medical cannabis.
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