Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Copyright: 2009 St. Paul Pioneer Press
Contact:  http://www.twincities.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/379
Author: Jason Hoppin

THE FACE OF POT POLITICS: WHY DON HAUMANT - AND SOME LEGISLATORS -
WANT MINNESOTA TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

"Statistically, I'm supposed to be dead," says Don Haumant, 57, as he
sits in his Minneapolis living room, the winter light coming in
through half-closed shades.

The one-bedroom apartment is decorated with period furniture - "You
might be comfortable on a mission chair," he offers a guest - and
flourishes of 1950s and Hollywood memorabilia. Above the couch is a
photograph of MGM's studio players from Tinseltown's golden era. Clark
Gable anchors the shot.

"There's not a whole lot that can be done," said the onetime actor,
his speech leisurely but his posture crisp. "That's why I've had to
take it upon myself to do the things that are within my power to live
a better life. And one of the things I've done is find the substances
that are the most helpful and least damaging."

Haumant has liver disease and muscle pain, which he manages by smoking
marijuana. He has done it with the knowledge of his doctors, and,
while living in California, he did it legally.

But when he moved to Minnesota in 2002 to be nearer his boyhood home
of Frederic, Wis., Haumant became an outlaw.

"It's much more of a stigma here," Haumant said. "In the circles that
I travel, people are pretty much accepting of it, and public opinion
is pretty much in favor of it. But still there are very strong forces
here that consider me to be a criminal and an addict."

Haumant is one of the few advocates for a pair of medical marijuana
bills moving through the Minnesota Legislature Advertisement Quantcast
who will confess to breaking the law. The bills are expected on the
floors of the House and Senate within weeks and come as President
Barack Obama's administration has signaled a seismic shift in federal
attitudes toward state medical marijuana laws.

But it may not be enough to bring Haumant in from the cold. Bowing to
law enforcement concerns, Gov. Tim Pawlenty is expected to veto the
bills if passed. If he does, Minnesota will mark a decade of Capitol
debates about medical marijuana that have led nowhere.

"Sometimes that's the way it goes in the legislative process: Things
take a long time," said Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, chief sponsor
of the Senate version of the bill. "Even if the governor vetoes this,
I think we may have enough votes to override it. If that's the case,
then we'll definitely take that path."

HELP WITH NAUSEA

Haumant has long battled a variety of ailments. As a youth, he was
diagnosed with adolescent scoliosis and in 1981, while living in
California, with hepatitis-B. In 1996, a friend who used medical
marijuana suggested he try it.

He first bought marijuana at a San Francisco dispensary operated by
noted marijuana activist Dennis Peron.

"It was like going to a bar. You could go to the Mexican bar, where
you could buy Mexican dope. ... You could go to a separate bar (for
different kinds of marijuana). And at that time, you could smoke it
right on the premises," Haumant said.

The marijuana helped him overcome nausea related to his liver
condition, which in turn has helped him put on weight. It also eases
his muscle pain, allowing him to turn down prescriptions for powerful
painkillers that are too taxing on his liver.

He told his doctor, whose only advice was not to hold the smoke in
very long to avoid damage to his lungs.

A "supplier" provides him a "tenuous" connection to a substance he
considers vital to his well-being. "I don't really have a good
backup," he said. And Haumant said he won't buy drugs on a street corner.

"I'm sort of on marijuana maintenance. It keeps me going," Haumant
said. "I like to live an independent life, and I think that my smoking
marijuana has helped facilitate that. ... I would rather be a regular
user of marijuana than pop four or five oxycodones a day, which I have
done."

Supporters say marijuana helps cancer patients overcome the nauseating
effects of chemotherapy and can stimulate the appetites of those
suffering from HIV-related wasting disease. Some glaucoma sufferers
use it for relief, as do many who suffer from pain.

The latest versions of the bill would require written certification
from a doctor, allowing patients to obtain a registration card giving
them access to marijuana purchased from a nonprofit registered with
the state. Those dispensaries would not be allowed within 500 feet of
a church or school.

That would put Minnesota among the minority of medical-marijuana
states that license and oversee drug transactions through
dispensaries. Users would be allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of
marijuana, or to grow as many as 12 plants.

The bill also lists and defines which medical conditions would qualify
a patient for medical marijuana. "It would be one of the tightest laws
on the books," Murphy said.

POPULAR SUPPORT, LARGE BARRIERS

Thirteen states have added medical-marijuana laws since California
voters first approved them in 1996, and several others are weighing
them. Voters have led the way in the debate, with eight of the 13 laws
having been passed by popular vote. A wide majority of Minnesota
voters appears to support such a change. In May 2008, a SurveyUSA poll
found a solid 2-to-1 majority behind it.

But making it law here has hit a wall. Lately, that wall resembles
Pawlenty, who has said he will stand with law enforcement in
opposition to the bill.

While states can create exceptions in their drug laws, they cannot do
so for federal prohibitions. That throws the use and distribution of
medical marijuana into limbo - while legal in the state, federal
authorities still could arrest and charge someone who sells or uses
pot.

That strange legal position has propelled the argument over medical
marijuana to the august halls of the U.S. Supreme Court, even while
the Drug Enforcement Administration has carried out raids on
state-approved dispensaries in California. The debate is an interplay
of pot smokers, constitutional lawyers and agents with very large guns.

But last month, Attorney General Eric Holder might have opened the
door for a change of heart from those who worry that setting up
medical-marijuana dispensaries is to invite a federal crackdown.

Days after Obama was sworn in, the DEA engaged in 11 eyebrow-raising
coordinated raids in California, where there is widespread suspicion
that users with no legitimate medical condition have easy access to
pot. The raids came despite Obama's campaign pledge that medical
marijuana was a state issue into which the federal government should
not tread.

Since then, there have been no further raids, and DEA representatives
refuse to discuss them. During a Feb. 25 news conference, Holder was
asked about the situation.

"Well, what the president said during the campaign, you will be
surprised to know, will be consistent with what we will be doing here
in law enforcement," Holder said.

On Wednesday, Obama nominated Gil Kerlikowske to head the Office of
National Drug Control Policy as the nation's so-called drug czar.
During his tenure as Seattle's police chief, Kerlikowske was known for
emphasizing drug treatment over prosecution for small-scale drug crimes.

"I really believe that law enforcement needs to consider (Holder's
comments) and calm down," Murphy said.

But they aren't changing the minds of top state law enforcement
officials.

"(Holder's) got a memo that he received from the president, as I
understand it," said Michael Campion, commissioner of the Minnesota
Department of Public Safety. "I'm not sure it does anything. It
doesn't change the law."

ANOTHER OPTION: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

But Chris De La Forest, a Republican former state lawmaker from
Andover who is lobbying for the bill, thinks the new approach should
change the debate. His group, the Marijuana Policy Project, met with
law-enforcement officials in December and requested they notify the
policy group of any objections.

"To date, law enforcement refuses to negotiate with us. They refuse to
tell us what, in their opinion, is wrong with the bill and needs to be
fixed," De La Forest said.

Campion said his opposition is well founded. He does not want to see
Minnesota turn into another California and says a process is in place
for approving medically necessary drugs - through the Food and Drug
Administration.

"If there was legitimacy and there was an appetite and there was a
need, you don't think these pharmaceutical companies would be all over
that to make money?" Campion said.

He also pointed out that Minnesota's drug laws are not overly punitive
and that the state has a fair, balanced approach to drug policy.

"I don't think I'm just a hysterical bureaucratic cop saying the sky
is falling," he said.

Neither the American Medical Association nor the Minnesota Medical
Association endorses medical marijuana, but several studies published
in prominent medical journals have pointed to its benefits.

One comes from an unlikely source - the White House itself. A 1999
report commissioned by the Office of National Drug Control Policy concluded:

"For patients who suffer simultaneously from severe pain, nausea and
appetite loss, such as those with AIDS or who are undergoing
chemotherapy, cannabinoid drugs" - such as marijuana - "might offer
broad-spectrum relief not found in any other single
medication."

And some medical groups, such as the Lymphoma Foundation of America
and the American Public Health Association, have endorsed medical marijuana.

De La Forest is hopeful the legislative process can lead to a good
bill, but he's keeping his options open. If Pawlenty continues to
block it, he said, advocates would take their case directly to the
voters.

"If it's determined that (the legislative) route is unavailable to us,
then a constitutional amendment is something that will happen," De La
Forest said.

For now, Haumant isn't optimistic the bill will pass this
year.

"There are a lot of areas in rural Minnesota where this sort of thing
is regarded as evil, with a capital 'e,' and so those legislators are
down on it," Haumant said. "People are afraid."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin