A newly elected Fargo lawmaker wants North Dakotans to be able to use medical marijuana. Democrat Pam Anderson says she plans to introduce a bill to allow the drug in the upcoming session.
Anderson's plan just started a few days ago, when someone in her district asked if she'd be willing to push medical marijuana. She quickly replied to him saying she sees no reason not to.
She says the bill would be similar to Montana and Minnesota's new law, which would require a doctor's prescription and only be in pill or oil form.She heads to Bismarck next week to see what kind of support there is.
Anderson says, "And I've never been in chronic pain. I have no idea what that'd be like to live with.
If there's a safe way to help, I say let's go for it." Because the idea is still fresh, Anderson says she hasn't done much research on the topic yet, either from a medical or a law enforcement standpoint.
But she believes it's a better alternative than other painkillers and will be happy even if it just gets people talking.
"What I would tell people is if this is something you do or don't agree with you need to talk to your legislators and let them know how you feel about it and we'll go through the process and if it passes that's great, if it doesn't we at least have had the discussion," says Anderson.
Anderson's other plans for the session include getting permanent flood protection for Fargo, lowering property taxes, and improving early childhood education.
Also, she has already had a bill drafted to offer a no interest loan for college students from the Bank of North Dakota.