As a Christian, I supported Colorado Amendment 20, legalizing cannabis (kaneh bosm/marijuana) for sick citizens, and the law works properly to protect sick citizens from being discriminated against by government.

Colorado's medical cannabis law is the only one in America that is a constitutional amendment (R-E, June 7).

One benefit of Colorado's law is due to it being written in the state's Constitution because it protects citizens by not allowing government to change, dilute or rewrite the law.

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Please, not another constitutional amendment.

Some advocates of medical marijuana apparently want to try to change the Minnesota Constitution rather than continue the fight in the Legislature.

Sen. Steve Murphy of Red Wing led a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that passed a narrowly defined medical marijuana bill this session. Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed it, which was his right. Lawmakers who support legalizing marijuana for pain management in limited cases can try again if they wish.

Citizens should never amend the Constitution without careful, deliberate purpose. We stand firm in our view: That purpose should be to protect and ensure rights, not to circumvent the legislative process.

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Medical Marijuana Supporters Want Voters to Decide

Medical marijuana supporters, who finally pushed legislation onto the governor's desk in Minnesota only to see the bill vetoed, are preparing for an even bigger task next year: ensuring the right of the sick and dying to smoke marijuana by writing it into the state's constitution.

Bypassing Gov. Tim Pawlenty and putting the question straight to voters is no easy chore. Supporters of last year's Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment spent nearly $4 million to get the measure passed. Yet, medical marijuana backers say they're willing to foot the bill.

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So Gov. Tim Pawlenty will veto medical marijuana and stand with law enforcement in opposition to its use. Of course, the only ones who profit from prohibition and the drug war are the gangsters and the cops. If you want to put the gangs out of business, take the business out of the gangs.

The governor wants to keep the business within his own gang, the cops. But the politicians can't keep marijuana out of the hands of teenagers and the gangs. Pawlenty can't keep reefer out of the hands of respectable middle-class people who smoke it when they think nobody's looking. Perhaps the only ones who Pawlenty can withhold marijuana from are the sick, suffering and dying. He'll make sure they can't get their medicine. That ought to tell you what message he sends.

CHRIS WRIGHT, EDINA

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If We Wish For Our Laws To Prevent Harm, They Need To Be Based On Evidence.

Our nation is having the most intense debate about our marijuana laws in more a generation -- one that Minnesotans recently saw play out in full force as legislators and Gov. Tim Pawlenty debated medical marijuana. As one who has pushed for just such a debate, I'm delighted, but as I and other Marijuana Policy Project staffers have engaged with journalists and policymakers lately, it's become clear that this debate is being hobbled by a series of myths.

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Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed an emotionally charged proposal late Friday to allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes, but signed into law a plan to disburse hundreds of millions of dollars from the Legacy Amendment passed by Minnesotans last year.

Four days after the Legislature ended with a stormy adjournment, the governor issued five vetoes Friday night on issues from election law to mortgage-foreclosure proceedings.

He also signed a bill late Thursday that allows police to pull over drivers solely because they or their passengers are not wearing seat belts. Currently, officers must spot another traffic offense before they can stop a vehicle and ticket someone for not being strapped in. The new law is effective June 9, and carries a $25 fine.

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Pot Use Would Only Be for the Terminally Ill.

A bill that permits terminally ill patients to use marijuana to ease their pain cleared the House and Senate on Monday night, a measure significantly narrowed from an earlier version that would have allowed any suffering patient, terminal or not, to use the drug for medical purposes.

The House passed the bill, 70-64, a victory for supporters who have long worked to get medical marijuana legalized in Minnesota, but one not nearly big enough to override the likely veto by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

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This year at the Legislature we're at it again, engaged in what has become the annual debate about "medical" marijuana.

The stage has long been set. On one side you have a group of people wanting to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, and on the other you have every legitimate group in our state representing law enforcement. Very soon our elected representatives will have to choose a side. They will decide on what type of Minnesota they want.

You have a very loosely written piece of legislation that, if passed, would clearly hamper law enforcement's ability to enforce marijuana laws. Laws on both the state and federal level prohibit the possession and sale of marijuana. If legalized for any purpose, it will put us in conflict with the feds.

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This may well be the year the Minnesota Legislature passes legislation to allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest. Despite the scare stories you may have heard, that would be a good thing for all Minnesotans.

Scientifically, there is simply no longer any question that marijuana can relieve symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and certain types of pain that inflict great misery on thousands of our fellow citizens battling a variety of illnesses, from cancer and AIDS to severe pain from devastating injuries. That's why medical organizations like the American Public Health Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, American Nurses Association and Minnesota Nurses Association support safe and legal access to medical marijuana for the seriously ill.

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Please contact your state legislator and our Gov. Tim Pawlenty and ask them to vote and immediately implement Senate Bill 97 and House Bill 292.

These bills are nearing a vote. If passed, they will legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota and will give a better quality of life to our terminally ill Minnesotans who are presently suffering massive nausea from chemotherapy or wasting away with HIV-AIDS and other terminal illnesses.

At present, more than one-third of Americans living in 25 percent of our states can use medical marijuana under a physician's supervision to ease their pain and suffering. It is only fair that your ill fellow Minnesotans can be allowed the same right.

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Lingering Doubts About the Potential for Abuse Could Block the Bill in the House or Draw a Pawlenty Veto.

After a debate pitting compassion for those suffering from the pain of cancer or HIV-AIDS against concerns about abuse and violence from expanded availability of a "gateway drug," the Minnesota Senate gave tentative approval Wednesday to the use of marijuana for medical purposes in the state.

The 36-28 vote came despite questions about whether the measure fully defines who would be eligible and whether it provides proper safeguards against potential abuse.

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Debate Centers on Cops' Concerns and Patients' Pain

The Minnesota Senate voted 36-28 on Wednesday to approve the use of medical marijuana in the state, clearing the way for final passage of the bill and setting up a potential showdown with Gov. Tim Pawlenty over the issue.

The bill allows cancer and AIDS patients and others suffering from debilitating illnesses to, with a doctor's approval, grow up to 12 plants or possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana. It would provide photo IDs to patients and regulate nonprofit marijuana dispensaries.

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This Is a Legislative, Not Constitutional, Decision.

The effort to allow marijuana's legal use by seriously ill Minnesotans isn't new at the Capitol, or to these pages. Proponents have been making their case since at least 1992, with this newspaper's support.

But the accounts of disease victims and their loved ones about the drug's benefits pack an emotional punch that's still fresh. No one could listen to Joni Whiting of Jordan tell legislators on March 24 of her late daughter's facial melanoma misery, relieved by no drug other than marijuana, and not be moved.

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As chief authors of the bipartisan Medical Marijuana Bill moving through the Legislature, we felt compelled to respond to Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom's misleading column regarding our bill ("Law enforcement groups oppose it, and here's why," March 20).

It was extremely disappointing to note that Backstrom began his column by asserting that he and the groups he represents will never agree to sit down with us to negotiate a bill that meets their concerns. This is unfortunate, because in other states, law enforcement has been supportive of the legalization of medical marijuana. They got involved in the process early on and worked with lawmakers to craft a system that would be workable. Because of their involvement, other states' medical marijuana systems have been successful.

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A bill that would legalize the medical use of marijuana in Minnesota continues to work its way through the state Legislature, with a Senate hearing on it set for today.

The Senate Finance Committee scheduled a hearing on the bill this morning.

The bill, gaining support among legislators but adamantly opposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, already has been approved by three other Senate committees.

In the past, the bill has gotten as far as winning approval by the full Senate in 2007, but has never reached Pawlenty's desk.

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WILLMAR - Dan Hartog doesn't look forward to the hassles that law enforcement officials predict will happen if the medical use of marijuana is legalized in Minnesota.

"Who's overseeing it? What's the control on it?" wondered Hartog, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff.

Jim Kulset, Willmar Police Chief, is concerned about the impact if a medical marijuana bill, currently working its way through the Legislature, passes this year.

"I think you open up a whole can of worms with it," he said.

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He Says Minnesota Could Reduce Crime

Allowing some people to use marijuana for medical purposes won't prompt a rash of drug crimes. In fact, if states such as Washington are examples, it could do just the opposite in Minnesota.

At least that's what the former police chief of Seattle suggested to a Minnesota House committee Tuesday.

Former Chief Norm Stamper noted that overall crime, including marijuana-related violations, is down significantly in Washington. So, what would he say if asked how its legalization is faring there?

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I'm no economist, but I know in order for a product to sell, there has to be a market for it.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also knows this, which is why she said Wednesday, "[The U.S.'s] insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade."

Well hot damn. This shouldn't be news to anyone. We're a nation of stark-raving mad drug fiends. Whether legal or not, Americans, like anyone else, enjoy the escape and relaxation their normal, anxiety-laden lives don't naturally have.

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Police Officers Say The State's Current Plan Would 'Create Significant Harm.'

Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz and the City Council are supporting efforts by the Police Department to rework a bill under consideration in the Legislature that would make legal the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

Kautz, who called the current offering "not a very good bill," made her support known after a March 10 presentation by Police Chief Bob Hawkins and Capt. Eric Werner at a council work session, during which police warned that the bill would lead to increased illegal behavior.

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Editors Note: This Story Is Part Of A Six-Part Series Covering Bills That Have Historically Failed In The State Legislature But Are Still Reintroduced Year After Year. The debate over legalizing medical marijuana has returned to the state Legislature for the ninth time since 1999. Last session, a medical marijuana bill passed the Senate, but the House didn't vote on it before the session ended.

This session, both the House and the Senate are debating bills that would legalize the use of medical marijuana for use by patients diagnosed with a short list of debilitating conditions.

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