Medical Marijuana: Minnesota Bill Heads for House Floor Vote, Last Stop Before Governor's Desk

When I ask police and sheriffs about there opinions on the law and debate them about the topic they ALWAYS bring up the fact that they ONLY enforce the laws and do not have anything to do with making or changing the laws.....

I am from MN and the reason that Pawlenty WILL VETO this is because the law enforcement community is dead set against it, and are very vocal about there position.

If they want to use the - we only enforce the laws that the legislator passes - Then the need to shut the F up when the laws are going through the legislative process.

This is the same Gov. Pawlenty (R-MN) who vetoed a tax increase to repair Minnesota's infrastructure such as repairing bridges. Pawlenty's bridges came tumbling down. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/22/vetocoming/

Pawlenty is proving himself to be a governor that cares nothing about the safety and happiness of the people of Minnesota. Yet, it's rumored that McCain (aka McBush), is considering Pawlenty as a vice-presidential running mate.

Minnesotans have stuck themselves with a governor who has nothing but contempt for American values. Pawlenty obviously doesn't share cannabis-smoking Thomas Jefferson's views that:

The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-jeffquot?specfile=/web/data/jefferson/quotations/www/jeffquot.o2w&act=surround&offset=173638&tag=10.+Good+Government&query=legitimate

Pawlenty considers himself a "fiscal conservative." That's another Repug term for anti-American values just as are "conservative values."

"To me, this is the ultimate conservative issue," said Rep. Chris DeLaForest (R-Andover), a cosponsor of the measure. "It's about keeping the government out of the doctor-patient relationship."

Why would this necessarily be considered a "conservative issue"? Would this more correctly be considered an American values issue? What about the "safety and happiness of society"? Our founders set up a government for that express purpose. Those are American values, not conservative or liberal issues.

Cannabis-smoking James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 43:

the transcendent law of nature and of nature's God…declares that the safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must be sacrificed.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed43.htm

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is just one such institution that should be sacrificed. It's waging a war on Americans, their families and communities. The DEA is the epitome of anti-American values.

Nice post David Dunn... I am often frustrated by these terms.

My idea of "conservative" means conserve (don't change) the founding principles of freedom that were the basis of our form of government. The Declaration of Independence defines certain unalienable rights which everyone is supposed to have by default, Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness being among them. Recreational drug use and self medication are clearly part of the Pursuit of Happiness. I would like to "conserve" these principles. Laws need to change, the principle remains the same.

But I'm also a "fiscal conservative", which may be a "Repug" buzz word but it's also a core principle of freedom. Spending beyond our means has saddled the next generation with enormous debt, emptied social security, and is destroying our currency.

To me all of this comes down to property rights. You own your body. It's your first piece of property... you are born with it. You can do whatever you want with it. That's the definition of ownership. If you want to consume certain chemicals it's your right to do so because you own your body.

But you cannot consume MY chemicals unless I choose to give them to you and that might be a problem except that you can choose what to do with your time. You can even choose to help someone perform work, and in exchange they could give you something that they own. Maybe money... or maybe chemicals... and then you would own some money or some chemicals.

Just like you have no right to take my chemicals, no one has a right to take your chemicals (or money).

Which is why I think the most important quote from James Madison is this one:
"The moment that the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the Laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be sacred or liberty cannot exist."

Ben O

A Pawlenty spokesman reiterated the veto threat Wednesday, saying the bill must include provisions to make it palatable to law enforcement.

Anybody know what provisions those might be? Is this just an excuse to veto anything, or does it reflect serious proposals made by law enforcement advocates?

Oh. My. God.

I had the most God-awful time today, trying to get this silly online paper to post any of my comments in support of medical marijuana and this bill. This may seem trivial, but this medical marijuana bill is too important to MN not to voice support and HAVE MY VOICE BE HEARD!

I have written comments & on-line editorials in media discussion forums since they started to appear on the net -- on a wide variety of topics -- but I have never seen such blatant media control over a subject, as I have seen with the media's coverage of marijuana as a medicine.

With the American College of Physicians recently spelling it out for everybody dragging behind, medical marijuana should be a no-brainer.

70-something years since its deceitful inception and "Reefer Madness" still "owns" most of our media.

I never once had a comment not posted or taken down, out of THOUSANDS of comments (hot air problem), until I began to comment about medical marijuana.

Now, at least a fifth of my comments on medical marijuana are DUMPED, DISAPPEARED, and even TAKEN DOWN at a later date?

MinnPost.com is unfortunately just the latest example of the highly biased, highly controlled, and highly irresponsible reporting of medical marijuana that seems to be in vogue.

It is maddening how so many newspapers & newspaper conglomerates actively suppress vital medical information and opinion concerning medical marijuana, even when their home state is considering making it medically accessible.

F*#KING PATHETIC RAGS!

just needed to whine... I knew you guys wouldn't DUMP it.

tx

In fairness to MinnPost.com, they just printed another one of my comments. Just appeared out of nowhere.

Wow! I am so excited.

Maybe MinnPost.com could actually do a second, more responsible piece on this bill? Then, their readers wouldn't need to do the reporting for them!

Thank you MinnPost.com for being more open.

This time the MEDICAL marijuana information-deleting/censorship is coming from the Pioneer Press/Twin Cities.com.

Their first article on this MEDICAL marijuana bill, "Bill allowing marijuana use for ill patients passes committee," was bare bones; so I put a lot of great info and links on medical marijuana in the discussion forum for the article.

Then, after a few days of being on the first page of Google (under medical marijuana), the whole article disappeared from Google's News overnight. Still can't find it in Google news.

Google Rep explained that a new source can indeed ask for a story to be pulled; and an article on the first page of Google News would not just disappear overnight, unless it was pulled.

I saw a Washington Post Blog concerning medical marijuana disappear in the same overnight fashion. According to the Google Rep, news "fades out" on Google slowly; and if you go deep enough in the regular section, you can find any article that was on the first page of Google news for at least a few weeks.

But these articles from the W-Post and TwinCities.com disappeared overnight.

OBVIOUSLY THEY WERE PULLED.

Both Twincities.com's editor and web editor deny their paper pulling the article. Then, how did it disappear overnight? They don't know either, but the editor agreed it was "weird."

Today, I began writing comments in response to a new article from the same paper, and I realized half of my comments were disappearing. This was the "Topix" format, so the comments would appear and then disappear a few minutes later.

So, I posted a post along the lines of "Stop deleting my posts, you information-controlling MEANIES (no vulgarity)" which appeared and remained up.

So, I then started to re-post a lot of my favorite links, and they ALL posted. I was psyched b/c I thought my persistence had beaten their censoring. But when I checked my links -- which I use regularly and they repeatedly work -- half of them didn't work.

I tested my links (from MY link page) and they all did indeed work. So, I commented that the paper was sabotaging my links; and the comment appeared. I then started to give all the links again. All the exact same links worked this time and are still working.

I realize I sound loco; but the reason I'm detailing all this is I'm convinced the biggest reason MEDICAL marijuana has not yet happened in MN is due to this type of incredibly biased/controlled media coverage in MN (RESPECT TO THE STAR-TRIBUNE FOR NOT DUMPING AND DELETING).

If media outlets will resort to outright DUMPING and DELETING of positive information and links about MEDICAL marijuana, no wonder Minnesota's Governor and other hold-outs are able to get away with completely ignoring the will of their people regarding medical marijuana. Disgusting.

Why has much of the MN media tried their best to squash this bill; and why are they hiding vital information from their people?

I'm going to go vomit now. Really.

what i don't understand is that the people saying "DO NOT LEGALIZE MARIJUANA" are the ones who are dead set against it.
just because it would become legal, doesn't mean YOU have to smoke it!
but you sit on your asses and smoke your cigarettes and get drunk at noon and you say that I AM BAD for smoking ganja every now and then?
in my opinion some republicans can be so two faced and hypocritical.
Don't get me wrong, everyone can be like that no matter what political or religious views.
at least liberals have been fighting for what they want in this life and not what will make it "safer".

face it man! nothing in life is safe!
and amen to the comment above mine. SO TRUE MAN!
i have been trying to get that point accross for the past 6 months.
people are so corrupt with what society says is bad and good.

Please help me in getting MN's media to give MEDICAL marijuana a fair shot. It is the media who is really squashing this, not the politicians, yet.

The MN media is giving loads of time to the police lobby; so they can BLATANTLY LIE WITH A NEW VERSION OF REEFER MADNESS (one to two plants would produce 100 - 200 lbs???!!! And this is all over Minnesota's media.). And the only TV News I saw left the MEDICAL part of the bill out: "lawmakers are considering making marijuana legal."

What's going on with MN's media? I've written on MEDICAL MARIJUANA in Media throughout the DEEP South and other parts of the Mid-west and not a single comment was ever deleted. But in EVERY MN discussion forum, many of my well sourced, non-inflammatory comments have been deleted.

If this bill doesn't pass, MN's Media should take the lion's share of the responsibility, for their highly biased hatchet job/media rigging of this bill. The TwinCities.com editor, Tom F-something, told me outright, "MEDICAL marijuana is not important to me." Does this editor typically pick what to print, based on whether its important to HIM??

His reporter shot at me, "The Governor will veto this, so it doesn't matter what you do." Doesn't matter what I do?

There was a day when reporters DUG to get the real scoop. In Minnesota, however, when it comes to covering MEDICAL Marijuana, the # 1 Rule is to cover up the truth.

Please write and/or call TwinCities.com, MinnPost.com and all other MN media & demand they begin to cover this very important subject fairly, by AT LEAST covering the broad medical support.

tx

TUES, THE 15TH, EXCUSE ME.

I think the best way to counter this ignorant b.s. is to continually provide all MN media sources with the medical support behind MEDICAL marijuana. Please by very polite when offering the following national and international health organization supporting IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ACCESS to marijuana:

American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Medical Student Association, American Nurses Association, American Preventive Medical Association, American Public Health Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom), Australian Medical Association (New South Wales), Limited Australian National Task Force on Cannabis, Belgian Ministry of Health, British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report), British Medical Association, Canadian AIDS Society, Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs, Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host), French Ministry of Health, Health Canada, Kaiser Permanente, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Lymphoma Foundation of America, The Montel Williams MS Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada), The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom), National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM), National Association for Public Health Policy, National Nurses Society on Addictions, Netherlands Ministry of Health, New England Journal of Medicine, New South Wales (Australia), AIDS Action Council, AIDS Treatment News, Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes, Andrew Weil

And here's a few state organizations SUPPORTING IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA:

American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Medical Student Association, American Nurses Association, American Preventive Medical Association, American Public Health Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom), Australian Medical Association (New South Wales), Limited Australian National Task Force on Cannabis, Belgian Ministry of Health, British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report), British Medical Association, Canadian AIDS Society, Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs, Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host), French Ministry of Health, Health Canada, Kaiser Permanente, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Lymphoma Foundation of America, The Montel Williams MS Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada), The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom), National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM), National Association for Public Health Policy, National Nurses Society on Addictions, Netherlands Ministry of Health, New England Journal of Medicine, New South Wales (Australia), AIDS Action Council, AIDS Treatment News, Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes, Dr. Andrew Weil...

One of the Pioneer Press/Twin Cities articles that disappeared from Google News mysteriously, "Bill allowing marijuana use for ill patients passes committee," seems to be back up on the News part of Google and the regular part of Google. For now.

whoopie. small successes.

Though it's possible there were just technical difficulties that made this story disappear from Google's radar for over a day, I'm not buying it. Something VERY fishy going on at Twincities.com.

In fairness though, today TwinCities.com posted my comments and non-sabotaged links in response to their most recent article on this bill, "At The Capitol / Ads urge legalizing medical marijuana." Let's see if the article and comments remain.

Great development. But TwinCities.com still seems irrationally reluctant to do a feature on the actual medical support that exists for MEDICAL marijuana. And suppression/obfuscation of this type of VITAL medical information is unacceptable. Besides, the science and history of marijuana is fascinating and incredibly newsworthy.

Please continue to help MN's media see the truth about marijuana as medicine. Thanks

Great news, the Star-Tribune just came out with a fair and balanced editorial, supporting MN's medical marijuana bill!

The editorial made several great points on both sides of the issue. And I learned something: this proposed legislation apparently doesn't allow patients to grow their own medicine, which is a big mistake. Evidently, a patient will have to buy the medical cannabis through a registered "not-for-profit." Why not let the patient take care of themselves? Patients are often capable of growing their own; and many patient-growers can grow better than any "agency" (gov't or not-for-profit)!

I wonder if a patient will be able to make themselves a not-for-profit, to grow for themselves and no one else? Let the patients grow it, and the "medical marijuana agency" dilemma and hysteria will disappear. We grow all sorts of food and medicine, like Aloe Vera, without mommy and daddy.

This is where the law enforcement lobby is getting the "ammunition" to make the questionable claim there eventually will be 5,200 not-for-profits organizations distributing MEDICAL marijuana through the 10 gazillion lakes. If the law enforcement lobby arrived at this figure the way they arrived at their claim that one or two marijuana plants can produce 100 - 200lbs of weed, then we know the "medical marijuana agencies are coming!" is just more of the same Reefer Madness we've been dealing with for the last 70+years.

I'd love to hear more about this from the News. It is really confusing.

Will there be a cap on pricing? Otherwise, many of these not-for-profits will charge more than the average patient can afford?

Let the patient grow!

THANK YOU STAR TRIBUNE FOR LISTENING, ESPECIALLY P.M. AND M.L!!!

A comment to TwinCities.com regarding their DUMPING of large amounts of discussion regarding MEDICAL MARIJUANA. It sounds petty, but this sort of censoring adds up:

"Medical Marijuana Comment Dumping?

If you look at any of the comments, you will see each comment has a comment/post # (in light grey, to the left of the "Report Abuse" feature).

If you follow the comment/post #s from #1 to the end, you'll see that the following posts/comments #s were indeed removed or taken down: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 48, 57.(As of 2:27 AM Mntn Thur 4/17/08, none of these comments were present)

And we're not talking about comments that were inflammatory or contained personal attacks, just comments that contained valuable MEDICAL information and fascinating LINKS (and a few comments about my comments mysteriously disappearing).

I have cut/copied/pasted/printed/sent this whole discussion thread in this form (and put a printed copy in a vault somewhere in Borneo), just in case I have to defend myself again from unfair character assassination.

Hopefully, TwinCities.com won't continue with this sort of B.S. CENSORSHIP and will begin to cover this subject responsibly. The Science and History of marijuana as a medicine are fascinating and incredibly newsworthy. And the readers deserve the whole story!

In fairness to the PP/TC.com, they came out with an editorial, "Make Room Med. Marijuana," in support of MN's MEDICAL marijuana bill, and they have allowed me to post a lot of information/links, regarding the medical efficacy of marijuana.

Thank you PP/TC.com for considering the issue.

That said, I do wish at least one of MN's MEDIA would do some real coverage of the historical and medical realities of this amazing plant. And it's long overdue for the media to begin to cover the wide array of cannabis'/Hemp's industrial applications.

Hopefully, MN's lawmakers will listen to the experts this time around, instead of crooks and dunces.

With the Minnesota police lobby and a rabid MN DA disseminating blatant disinformation about MEDICAL marijuana through tons of media throughout MN, it seems only fair that marijuana's true scientific and historical record be shared. Even if only one person reads, it is worth it. So, I did post a TON of comments (isn't that what a discussion forum is for - sharing info & opinion...if a person doesn't want to read the comments, they don't have to)? Here's my comment to the Duluth Tribune, after the Tribune dumped TONS of my well-sourced comments:

"PLEASE PUT MY COMMENTS UP. PRETTY PLEASE? THIS IS A DISCUSSION FORUM ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA. The dumping of large amounts of non-inflammatory comments is yellow. (that's the 1st close-to-inflammatory thing I've said). If MN's Ministry of Truth (second thing) - I mean Media - covered the broad medical support for this bill, there would be NO WAY Pawlenty could veto it, without looking incredibly ignorant and/or tainted. But for some strange & scary reason, many of the media outlets are deliberately painting the movement as fringe, when in fact there is tremendous medical and public support. Please post the rest of my comments. The readers deserve to see the truth from organizations like the NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE, THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, ETC. And they shouldn't have to be learning ALL OF IT on their own. The media should be covering MEDICAL marijuana in an in-depth manner, as it is a NEWSWORTHY medical/health issue; and the science and history of medical cannabis are fascinating.
Until the media begins to cover the topic responsibly, readers and viewers will have to fill in the HUGE gaps. Please consider putting my comments up; or at least consider using my sources and cited studies as leads for future Medical, Science, Health, and History articles. Thank you." (end of comment)
mb

Reporting used to be about digging for the truth. But MN's media seems to be trying their best to HIDE the truth regarding medical marijuana. Not a single article (not talking about editorials) on the tremendous medical and public support, out of dozens of articles, in the whole darn state. Seriously yellow crap. Closest thing I've seen to North Korea's news in a long time. Mn's media control over the subject of medical marijuana and complicity in promoting the Governor's ignorant stance is terribly alarming.

It seems one of the medical marijuana articles (“Marijuana Bill Spurs Debate”) the Duluth Tribune ran recently -- along with some good discussion that dispelled a LOT of MEDICAL Marijuana lies -- already went into their archive section, just a week after the paper ran the article. This article's "early retirement" seems odd, as the Tribune has articles/opinion features all the way back to Apr 5, 2008 still in the part of the paper you can see, without a credit card.

Hmm? Now you have to use a credit card to see the article & comments just a week old.

This past weekend I ended up writing/calling the exec. Editor of the Duluth Tribune, after over 20 of my non-inflammatory posts were dumped, disappeared, and discarded. Again, this may seem petty; but this discarding of large amounts of pro-MEDICAL marijuana information is alarming, especially when you consider the Duluth Tribune continues to allow cop-types to personally attack anybody supporting medical marijuana (real dumb jokes); yet they seriously manage/cut-down the flow of any favorable comments.

The exec. editor said that he would run all my comments, after I told him I was starting a Master's Thesis on Media Censorship on THE FACTS RE: Medical Marijuana; but I said I would just submit a small fraction of my comments, to not hog the forum. I thought the editor's offer was generous.

However, as of this morning, you can't even get to the article, unless you pay. So, none of my comments can be seen by viewers without credit cards. MY COMMENTS AREN'T ANYTHING SPECIAL, ESP FOR PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH THE TERRAIN; BUT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA RARELY COVERS THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA. Minnesota media, by far, is the most biased, chickensh*t media I've experienced yet. They seem petrified to cover any of the science or history, which would call Pawlenty on his PATHOLOGICAL B.S.

If MN media was actually covering some of the real medical support, research & science (ACP, APHA, NEJM, Brit. Med. Assoc, for instance), I wouldn't be documenting all of this or writing in discussion forums. AT ALL.

But I am infuriated that I have seen only 1 favorable, non-editorial article in the whole state. I am not talking about editorials from patients, which are CRUCIAL, but articles talking about the overwhelming medical support. In the end, if MN's media doesn't cover the very real medical support -- to back up what the patients' advertisements are saying -- the Governor will be able to veto this without looking incredibly ignorant or incredibly tainted.

Why is MN’s media refusing to cover the medical support medical marijuana?

IF ANYBODY FROM MN IS READING, PLEASE BEG THE MN MAINSTREAM MEDIA TO COVER THE SCIENCE FROM GROUPS LIKE THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. MN MEDIA IS PAYING A GRAVE DISSERVICE TO THE PEOPLE OF MN BY TRYING TO PAINT MEDICAL MARIJUANA AS A FRINGE MOVEMENT, BY DELIBERATELY LEAVING THE MEDICAL SUPPORT OUT OF THEIR COVERAGE.

INDEFENSIBLE YELLOW SH*T

I was about to report that the Duluth Tribune might be thinking about considering being responsible in their coverage of medical marijuana. This AM - 5/6/08 - the Tribune ran two GREAT readers' views on MEDICAL marijuana, one from a mmj patient and one from an enlightened LEAP rep.

BUT NOW (2pm - 4pm Eastern), I can't seem to find the Tribune's Opinion/Readers' View pieces in Google News or General search (I went pretty deep too). The Tribune's two "readers' views" were the first Google News response under "medical marijuana" this morning. And they are already gone.

Neat.

I'm sure it is all just a technical glitch, and the Ministry of Truth has it all under control.

The two readers' opinions on med mj that appeared today in the DuluthNewsTribune - 5/6/08 - THEN disappeared altogether off Google for several hours - are back up as of 4:45 p.m eastern.

Wouldn't it just be easier to cover the subject and end all the hiding games?

I don't work for anyone, so I don't have to say the Tribune has been fair in their coverage in medical marijuana, when in fact they have been anything but fair and objective.

How about covering the medical support (there's a great list in the discussion they made disappear)? How about covering the science (from experts not govt propagandists)? How about covering the Federal Government's MEDICAL marijuana program? How about covering marijuana's use of a medicine for thousands of years? How about covering the tens of thousands of people who die from properly prescribed pharmaceuticals every year? How about covering the small-print that allows & encourages our federal regulatory agencies to disseminate blatant LIES about medical marijuana that can only serve to injure? How about covering the Governor's views and compare them, side by side, with the facts? How about covering the fact that the MN Police Lobby has lied a blue streak about medical marijuana, and have been called on all their lies, with no consequence.

How about being a responsible media outlet that doesn't hide vital medical information?

Last night Kare 11 ran an article, "Medical marijuana controversy heats up with latest ad," discussing the latest MPP advertisement featuring an ailing retired sheriff and former MN representative supporting medical marijuana. The article had a link to the commercial, which I thought was powerful and persuasive; and the article was the first response under "medical marijuana" in Google News for a few hours last night.

But when I awoke, the article had been completely scrubbed from Google News. Media outlets have a right to scrub an article, but the FACT that multiple MN media have been dumping favorable articles and tons of comments about medical marijuana is truly unbelievable. You can find this article in the regular search, but it is definitely gone from Google News. Prior to this MN bill, I saw this suspicious removal of an article once before, from the Washington Post; but MN wins the "Ministry of Truth" Censorship award, hands down. Still, not a single MN media has done a SINGLE article on the overwhelming medical support (plenty of nice editorials from patients and would like to be patients; but no REAL INFORMATION ON THE SCIENCE OR ALL THE ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THIS...IT IS BEING SIDELINED BY THE MEDIA).

Has MN media always been so obsessed with hiding the truth? Northfield, MN was on my list of possible places to retire, because of its wonderful arts and wheelchair accessible parks along the river. But I just crossed Northfield off my list, as I am not willing to return to 1937, just to be in MN.

I don't know if its mostly ignorance or mostly corruption; but either way, it is very UGLY.

PLEASE ASK KARE11 TO PUT THE ARTICLE BACK UP AND WRITE/CALL PAWLENTY AND YOUR REPS, MINNESOTANS!

Maybe some outside media could cover MN's Media attempted side-lining & cover-up of this bill? Any MN blogs?

I don't know when the article was returned to its Google News spot, but the article is the first choice under "medical marijuana Minnesota" this morning. Neat how this article disappeared during the hearings; to prevent a rep from seeing it during break/lunch.

STILL WAITING FOR A SINGLE MN ARTICLE ON THE TREMENDOUS MEDICAL SUPPORT!

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA WITH A WEAK EDITORIAL & THEN, HIDE THE FACTS. (the MN papers know if they exclude the medical facts; then, Pawlenty Ignorant will have more "license" to veto this. Most of the big papers have lent weak editorial support -- that conveniently and deliberately left out ALL the medical support and ALL the research - to cover both bases (the MN media can say they supported medical marijuana, but their coverage of the facts will show a poorly veiled attempt to sideline/squash this issue).

PLEASE ASK MN'S MEDIA TO COVER THIS MEDICAL SUPPORT, AS MANY OF THEM HAVE GONE OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HIDE THE FACTS. THIS TYPE OF SELECTIVE COVERAGE FLIES IN THE FACE OF RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM. MN MEDIA IS PAYING A GRAVE DISSERVICE TO THE MINNESOTANS BY REFUSING TO COVER THIS VITAL MEDICAL ISSUE!

Hopefully, they won't get away with helping to squash this bill.

I stopped documenting, as it was clear this bill had zero chances of passing, because of a highly unethical, highly irresponsible, pathologically-lying police lobby, and a complicit media. And I knew I probably seemed crazy.

But the media coverage of any bill can make or break the bill, as illustrated by Med Marij. in MN. I have followed the media coverage of medical marijuana throughout the world for over a decade; and MN Media definitely wins the "Ministry of Truth" Censorship Award for obscuring the truth by dumping pro-MEDICAL marijuana information, and acting as an always available mouthpiece for disseminating blatant propaganda regarding medical marijuana (from a corrupt police lobby spouting lie after lie). No other media has demonstrated such hostility toward fair journalism, Science, and facts.

It is outrageous that MN lawmakers ignored the experts, and put the police in charge of Medicine in MN. And it is bright yellow that most of the MN media did everything they could to squash this bill, by REFUSING TO COVER THE BROAD MEDICAL & PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR MED MARIJ..

MN media is STILL dumping and discarding comments that spell out the truth about medical marijuana. Today, days after the bill was killed, MN's PostBulletin.com removed all the comments from a few of their editorials ("Why would we want people to suffer needlessly?"; Turn back effort to disguise an illegal drug as medicine"; and they dumped another editorial from a doc couple plugging Marinol altogether ).

Minnesota's yellow media coverage of the medical marijuana bill is an abomination to journalism. AND ALLOWING A CORRUPT POLICE LOBBY TO DECIDE VITAL PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY IS AN ABOMINATION TO DEMOCRACY, MEDICINE, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT.

Please let the PostBulletin know you noticed they were taking down comments and urge them to put them back.

That's it for me. I hope I didn't annoy. I think it is important to be expose media efforts that perpetuate blatant propaganda about marijuana, and hide the truth.

Maybe next year, there will be more pressure on the media to cover this important subject responsibly.

thank you.

Conserve principles. Change laws. Thats why our founding fathers made it so we can amend. They understood that times change. You shold be able to do what ever the heck you want to with your own property(as long as your not harming others) smoke, drink, chew, pop pills, have sex, eat food whatever it may be. That is what our country is SUPPOSE to be about. Freedom(as long as your not harming other people).

Stop locking up NON-VIOLENT drug users. It expensive for the tax payer.

P.S.
Can someone give me a reason why medical marijuana should not be legal?