Marijuana Policy Project

Medical marijuana advocates announced today they will be airing the second installment in a series of ads featuring seriously ill patients who take marijuana for pain.

K.K. Forss, Ely, is featured in the 60 second commercial set to begin airing on network and cable stations today.

Forss suffers from a genetic disorder which causes discs in his vertebra to deteriorate and crush the nerves at the base of his spinal cord.

In the ad he is shown seated behind hundreds of pill bottles prescribed by doctors over the past three and a half years.

He has undergone two back surgeries to help correct the vertebrae deterioration.

Forss said marijuana has been a tremendous help because it took away the nausea, heartburn and constipation brought on by the various pain medications he was taking.

"With the marijuana I was able to sleep, so that meant when I got up in the morning I hadn't been flip-flopping around in bed all night and the muscles weren't in such severe spasm", said Foress.

"So I was able to do small little things around the house or maybe even a small little job from time to time."

Forss, who said he is not currently smoking marijuana due to financial reasons, has in the past obtained the drug from people who were aware of his situation and wanted to help.

In Minnesota it is illegal to use marijuana for any reason, but that could soon change.

A bill headed to the House floor seeks to make Minnesota the 13th state to allow medical marijuana. The Senate already approved the legislation last year.

If it passes the House, the bill will then go before Governor Tim Pawlenty who is expected to veto. He has said he stands with law enforcement in opposition of the bill.

Neal Levine, director of state campaigns for the Medical Marijuana Policy Project, said he thought it was important to look at what law enforcement was saying about the issue. But he says when his group examined it they found a lot of inaccuracies.

"We have certain members of the law enforcement community who are vocally advocating against this bill", said Levine.

"So we hear certain legislators and the governor's office saying they're not inclined to support this bill based on the words of law enforcement".

Levine said he hopes by publicizing the correct information, it might make people reevaluate their opinions

The Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project says it's spending more than $100,000 to air the message statewide starting today. They are also airing a series of ads on their website.