Minn. medical pot bill won't make deadline

A bill legalizing marijuana for medical uses won't be introduced in time to meet deadlines at the state Legislature this year.

Heather Azzi, political director of Minnesotans for Compassionate Care, said the group needs time to prepare their push for the bill.

"We haven't been working on the issue in the last three years in Minnesota because we didn't have the funding to do so, frankly," said Azzi, whose group has lobbied to legalize "medical marijuana" in the past. "We needed to get some time to educate all the new legislators, to bring the issue back up and we've had a lot of meetings behind the scenes just to get the language worked out perfectly."

Azzi said the "medical marijuana" bill will be introduced sometime in the next few weeks. She expects it will start moving through committees next year.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow some form of medical marijuana, and lawmakers in 14 other states have introduced similar legislation this year.