http://minnesotaindependent.com/26340/medical-marijuana-bill-advances-in-senate-with-moving-testimonyBy Andy Birkey 2/12/09 3:33 PM
Photo: Ryan Bushby, Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Ryan Bushby, Wikimedia Commons
It was a tear-filled room at a meeting of the Health, Housing and Family Security Committee as senators heard testimony about how medical marijuana had helped loved ones live in less pain during the last few days of their lives. But after those tears, the hearing devolved into a strange round of testimony as opponents pulled out all the stops to blame marijuana for higher crime rates and the downfall of the family, and one testified that medical marijuana is a scheme by billionaire George Soros to make drugs legal.
Dr. George Wagoner, a physician in Virginia, Minn., broke down as he described the trials he and his wife suffered as she struggled with ovarian cancer. They had tried Marinol, a prescription made of synthetic THC, one of the more than 60 active compounds in marijuana.