Family with Benson ties fights to make medical marijuana legal

For one Minnesota family, the current session of the state Legislature has one issue before it that rises above all others: Will the state approve the sale and use of medical marijuana?
Among those waiting anxiously to see what the state Legislature will do are Mick and Marlys Boone of Benson. They have a seven-year-old granddaughter who suffers from debilitating and frequent epileptic seizures. The chemicals in medical marijuana have proven to be the one drug that provides hope for Greta Botker to have a better life.
Greta is the daughter of Maria and Mark Botker of Clinton; Maria is a 1994 graduate of Benson High School and the daughter of Mick and Marlys Boone. The Botkers also have two other daughters, Emma and Lora.
Though 20 states and the District of Columbia have approved the growing and sale of medical marijuana, efforts to add Minnesota have been frustrated. Law enforcement associations and county attorneys have taken a stand against it. That opposition has led former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and current Gov. Mark Dayton, to oppose its legalization.
Medical marijuana is nothing like the kind people smoke to get a high.
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