FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
MAY 8, 2008

Former Sheriff, Legislator Speaks Out for Medical Marijuana in New Ad Advocates Address Most Recent Mistruths from Dakota County Attorney

CONTACT: Neal Levine, MPP director of state campaigns, (612) 424-7001

MINNEAPOLIS — Proponents of a bill to protect seriously ill patients from arrest for using medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation released their latest TV ad today featuring former Fillmore County sheriff and state representative Neil Haugerud, who suffers from severe, intractable pain due to inflammation of the spine.

    Opposition to the bill, which according to a new KSTP poll has the support of 64 percent of Minnesotans and has already passed the Senate, has been largely confined to a handful of members of the law enforcement community. Gov. Tim Pawlenty has threatened to veto the bill as long as law enforcement opposes it, but advocates and patients maintain that that opposition relies on false, misleading arguments.

    "Law enforcement I think is stepping out of bounds," Haugerud says in the ad. "Law enforcement is there to enforce the laws in relation to what the law is – they really don't need to influence ... what the law should be." The new ad is online at http://minnesotacares.org/Ads_video.html.

    "Neil Haugerud knows this issue from both sides – as a longtime sheriff, and now as a patient suffering severe pain every day, who might benefit from medical marijuana," said Neal Levine, director of state campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project. "We urge the House to quickly send this to the governor’s desk, and hope that Governor Pawlenty will reject the misinformation coming from a few in law enforcement and sign this compassionate, tightly crafted bill into law."

    The most egregious misinformation came from Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who in a May 1 e-mail to legislators accused medical marijuana supporters of making "inflammatory, slanderous and extremely offensive" charges – for calling him on his misstatements, which included objections to portions of the bill that were removed or amended at law enforcement's request over a year ago. Backstrom's statements are available at http://minnesotacares.org/backstrom_email_mn_house.html and http://minnesotacares.org/mm_email_mn_house.html. Detailed, sourced refutations of 32 false claims in these statements are available here: http://minnesotacares.org/32_false_law_claims_mm.html, and video responses to the most blatant falsehoods are at http://minnesotacares.org/Videos.html.

    With more than 23,000 members and 180,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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