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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

Senate panel approves medical marijuana bill

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Sen HHS comm hearing
Kristy Pauling and her daughter Katelyn watch Sen. Scott Dibble discuss his medical marijuana bill. The Pauling family believes medical marijuana will help their daughter who suffers from seizures. (MPR Photo/Tom Scheck)

A Minnesota Senate committee approved a bill Friday that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes. The Senate Health, Human Services and Housing Committee approved the measure 7-3.

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, says his bill would allow sick people to get a doctor's permission to use marijuana. They would then be allowed to purchase a limited amount of marijuana.

The committee rejected an amendment that would scrap the plan to study the potential impact of medical marijuana. Dibble agreed to study the issue but said it had to be done in combination with the legalization of the drug.

"People are suffering today,” Dibble said. “The idea of further delay and then another delay and another delay pending some magical clearing of the skies on the part of the federal government so they would allow this kind of research means we're just telling people to just suffer."

Critics worry that legalizing medical marijuana is a pathway to legalizing the drug entirely, something Colorado did earlier this year. Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, joined two Republicans in voting against the bill.

"I don't think that legalizing medical marijuana is going to stop there,” Eaton said. “I think we're going to follow the path of Colorado."

The bill has several more committee stops in the Senate.

Gov. Dayton, police and prosecutors do not support the bill because they say the medical evidence isn't clear and it's a bad idea to increase access to a mood altering drug.