--- title: Medical Marijuana Use To Begin in Minnesota description: Medical marijuana will be legal on Wednesday for the very ill, but users won't be able to smoke it. canonical: https://time.com/3940065/medical-marijuana-minnesota/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-29T17:03:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:44.137Z article:section: Health og:title: Medical Marijuana Use To Begin in Minnesota og:description: Medical marijuana will be legal on Wednesday for the very ill, but users won't be able to smoke it. og:url: https://time.com/3940065/medical-marijuana-minnesota/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b59575fad0c0579/698858e4e53aba421f4de67d/weed-pic.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4320 og:image:height: 2430 og:image:alt: 547026687 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Medical Marijuana Use To Begin in Minnesota twitter:description: Medical marijuana will be legal on Wednesday for the very ill, but users won't be able to smoke it. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b59575fad0c0579/698858e4e53aba421f4de67d/weed-pic.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Minnesota Takes Half Step Toward Legalizing Marijuana > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=5a13517f-2350-411f-bb48-42c44c853763&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 29, 2015 5:03 PM UTC  Close-Up Of Marijuana Leaves Close-Up Of Marijuana Leaves Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 29, 2015 5:03 PM UTC Minnesota eased a statewide ban on medical marijuana products Wednesday, approving the use of pills and oils for seriously ill patients, while upholding a ban on products that can be smoked. Under the new law, users will be able to use liquid and pill extracts of marijuana plants, provided they are suffering from serious conditions such as epilepsy, HIV and cancer, [the Associated Press reports](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FMEDICAL%5FMARIJUANA%5FMINNESOTA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT). The law also restricts sales to only eight dispensaries within the state. While legalization advocates hailed the new rules as a step forward, they argued that Minnesota’s approach was unusually restrictive, potentially excluding patients living in rural areas or on tight budgets from obtaining the drugs. \[[_AP_](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FMEDICAL%5FMARIJUANA%5FMINNESOTA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)\] ### Go Inside the Harvest of Colorado's Most Controversial Marijuana Strain  Charlotte's Web grows on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014\. The Stanley Brothers have developed a popular strain of cannabis that has been found to be helpful in reducing seizures in some children. Charlotte's Web is high in a compound called cannabidiol (CBD) and low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the compound that causes a high. Matt Nager for TIME  Charlotte's Web grows on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  From left: Zachary Sobol, Michael Atchley, and Jared Stanley walk to the farm to prepare for harvest of Charlotte's Web near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Rows of Charlotte's Web await harvest at the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Jared Stanley helps in the harvest of Charlotte's Web on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Colin Sparks searches for seeds during the harvest of Charlotte's Web on the Stanley brother's Charlotte's Web farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Discarded leaves of Charlotte's Web at a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Tim Knight helps in the harvest of Charlotte's Web on the Stanley brother's farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Rows of Charlotte's Web await travel to a drying facility after being harvested on a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Zachary Sobol catches a ride on a trailer to the Stanley brother's farm during harvest of Charlotte's Web near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Rows of Charlotte's Web await travel to a drying facility after being harvested from a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  One of the Stanley brother's greenhouses growing cannabis near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Zachary Sobol hangs rows of Charlotte's Web to dry after harvest in Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Penn Mattison, left, and Zachary Sobol, right, hang rows of Charlotte's Web to dry after being harvested from a farm near Wray, Colo. on Sept. 22, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  The Stanley brothers' new company laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  A petri dish full of cannabis explants await transfer and transplanting at the Stanley brothers' lab in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Molecular plant biologist and lab manager Bear Reel awaits the cooling of agar to help induce rooting of transplanted cannabis plants at the Stanley brothers' company laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  The lab notebook of molecular plant biologist and lab manager Bear Reel at the Stanley brothers' company laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  A flask of agar cools before explants of hemp are transplanted to help induce rooting and new growth at the Stanley brothers' company laboratory in in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. Matt Nager for TIME  Tissue cutter technician Meg Regan holds a vial of explants before sanitizing and transplanting at the Stanley brothers' laboratory in Boulder, Colo. on Sept. 23, 2014. 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