By Michelle Lee
Would you break the law if you thought it would reduce the pain and suffering of someone you loved?
It's a risk some Minnesotans are willing to take, including Kathy Rippentrop.
“If my children or grand children had a disease that they needed that, I would be blowing it in my grand children's face,” Kathy told the Northlands NewsCenter.
Kids and marijuana? Not exactly what you would expect from a law abiding retiree with solid Minnesota values.
When Rippentrop's mother was diagnosed with colon cancer she was given a year to live. She says marijuana helped extend Jane Schmidt’s quality of life for four and a half years.
“Oh, absolutely.” Kathy said, adding, “She laughed, traveled...yeah, happy times where it could have been horrible times. And that is what we wanted for her.”
Marijuana is a Schedule I Drug. The federal Government has ruled it has a high abuse tendency and has no accepted medical use.
Kathy strongly disagrees and shared Jane's story with Minnesota Lawmakers during hearings on proposed Medical Marijuana legislation.
Minnesota's bill would have protected seriously ill patients like Jane who use medical marijuana with their doctors' recommendations from arrest and prison.
Introduced in the House by Representative Tom Huntley of Duluth, 105 Senators and Representatives voted in support of the Medical Marijuana Bill, including many Northland lawmakers.
Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon’s husband died with a very painful disorder and it was suggested to him that he use it. But he wouldn't use it because it wasn't legal.
But the Senator says she thinks it would have been helpful and would have helped him to be more comfortable in his final days.
When Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed the bill he was sympathetic to those dealing with end–of–life illnesses, but wrote marijuana poses "serious public safety and health risks."
It's a concern shared by Minnesota's Chiefs of Police and their officers.
“I don't know if they have really determined what type of illness what type of ailments could get medical marijuana for?” Sergeant Chad Nagorski with the Duluth Police Department said
In Minnesota possession of less than 42.5 grams of pot is a misdemeanor that carries a fine of 200 dollars, plus sometimes, mandated drug education.
Any more marijuana than that and you are looking at big trouble.
According to the Sergeant, “typically they would go to jail because it is a felony amount and ultimately go to court.
They could get probation, they could go to prison, and it just depends on a number of factors.” He told the Northlands NewsCenter.
Opponents believe legalizing medical marijuana would open the flood gates to greater drug abuse and more crime.
Heather Azzi is the Campaigns Analyst with the Marijuana Policies Project disagrees.
She says, “The gateway if there is one at all is not the substance, it's the illegal market. A drug Dealer is not going to sell just marijuana. They are going to have heroin, cocaine, meth–amphetamine available...and when somebody is exposed to substances they are more likely to get their hands on them.”
Supporters of medical marijuana aren’t giving up their fight. They plan now to focus on Minnesota's gubernatorial candidates.
Azzi says they are going to be asking them questions about the bill and legislation and hope that supporters can get them all to pledge to sign the legislation next year.
Kathy Rippentrop's mom died two years ago on Mother's Day.
She plans to continue her efforts to legalize marijuana so other families will not have to make the decision her family did.
She told us, “You know, we all loved her so much...that ...we would have done anything for her. But it was very nerve racking to know that you were breaking the law.
This Month, The District of Columbia joined fourteen states that now allow the use of Medical Marijuana.
For over 60 years the battle to banish marijuana has raged in our schools, on our streets and in our court systems.
Thursday night at ten on KBJR 6 and Range 11 we’ll have the results of a NewsCenter poll on Medical Marijuana and take a closer look "Marijuana; Menace or Medicine.
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