Title:
Attorney General affirms right to enact medical marijuana law
Message:
State Attorney General Mike Hatch has affirmed the right of Minnesota to enact a law that removes criminal penalties for medical marijuana under state law.
In a December 13 letter to Representative Scott Dibble, D-Minneapolis, Hatch said last years Supreme Court ruling on this issue "has no impact on Minnesota's ability to pass a medical marijuana law."
Dibble co-sponsored three medical marijuana bills in 2001. All three bills will be pending when the session reconvenes on January 29.
Hatch's letter does not constitute a formal opinion, but it is consistent with what every other state attorney general has said on the issue: Nothing in federal law abrogates state medical marijuana laws.
Hatch added that Minnesota patients would still be subject to federal penalties for marijuana use, if a state law was approved.
Fortunately, federal law-enforcement agencies do not have the resources or the mandate to target individual patients for small-time possession and cultivation of medical marijuana.
Nearly 99 percent of all marijuana arrests are made by state and local police, not federal agents. If the Minnesota legislature passes a medical marijuana bill, the state's patients will have effective protection.
Please take a few minutes and visit MPP's Minnesota web site and send an e-mail to your representative and senator regarding the Attorney General's letter. Several pre-written letters are provided for your convenience. You can also download the full text of Hatch's letter from MPP's site.
