Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton supposedly told a mother and medical marijuana advocate with a sick child to buy pot from a dealer.
Medical marijuana is currently illegal in Minnesota, although there is reportedly bipartisan legislative support to change that in the state. The governor, a Democrat, is not on board as yet, and has proposed a research study first.
According to Dayton,”While the benefits of medical marijuana are poorly documented, there’s no shortage of evidence regarding marijuana’s negative effects on individuals and communities. For example: Marijuana can disrupt learning and impair memory; Marijuana can exacerbate mental illness; Marijuana can increase blood pressure, heart rate, and heart attack risk; Using marijuana during pregnancy can harm a baby’s brain development; Marijuana can impair drivers, causing automobile crashes that kill or injure innocent people…”
In a private meeting at the governor’s mansion with advocates of medical marijuana, a mother whose two-year-old son has severe epilepsy claimed that Dayton told her to buy it on the street. “This is our state’s top official looking me in the eye and telling me I should have to break the law to buy marijuana from an illegal drug dealer.”
Dayton now denies that the gave the mom this kind of advice. Said Jessica Hauser, the mom in question, “It’s just really disappointing in a top official to first suggest it and then deny it. I have no reason to lie.”
In a statement , Dayton said that “I cannot, and I do not, advocate breaking the law. But as a father, I understand parents who would do anything possible to help their children. If advocates agree to the compromise solution my administration has proposed — which I believe would provide their children with the medication and relief they need as quickly as possible — then something can be accomplished on this issue this session.”
Mark Dayton is the great-grandson of the found of Dayton’s department store, which later became Target.
Do you think medical marijuana will become legal in Minnesota this year?
