Readers Write: Fraud in Minnesota, marijuana’s risks, the holiday season

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Gov. Tim Walz, please don’t run again for governor.

I want to vote for a Democrat next year, but I won’t vote for Walz, even though I voted for him twice before. He doesn’t deserve my vote. Who will I vote for if he continues to run? I just don’t know.

He is now learning the hard lesson of being a politician. Whether he is willing to admit it or not, he is ultimately responsible for the fraud and the billions of dollars we lost. Our money. His watch. His people in charge.

Performing due diligence when handing out money is fairly simple: site visits, financials review, phone calls and the requirement of reports on a regular basis. These programs were supposed to help our communities and never made it to them due to the fraud. Not only the criminals need to pay but also the people in charge.

Walz, man up and drop out of the race so us Democrats have someone to vote for next November.

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To Walz: Who cares if the number is not $9 billion? (“Accounts of fraud show rift with feds,” Dec. 22.) Why would any lesser number be acceptable? I can’t imagine the good that money could have done in the right places. And what about the people who really needed it? Act like you give a darn and fix this!

Dan Wixon, Bloomington

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It was unprofessional for First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson to have announced his suspicions about the scale of Medicaid fraud in Minnesota. Why did the Star Tribune report his suspicions, when Thompson “couldn’t cite specifics” about them? (“‘Staggering amounts’ lost to fraud,” Dec. 19.)

Thompson said, “The magnitude of the fraud in Minnesota cannot be overstated.” But Thompson overstates it with every announcement of his suspicions. The Star Tribune should report the facts of fraud cases, not suspicions that will be broadcast in electoral messaging.

Thompson opines, “You don’t see fraud on this scale in other states.” But how would he substantiate that claim? There is no state-by-state analysis of fraud with which to compare Medicaid fraud in Minnesota. The Strib article points to a $2.5 billion case of Medicaid fraud in Arizona, reported by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica.

In addition to the Walz administration’s three years of actions to combat fraud and hold criminals accountable, in March, state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart and Rep. Matt Norris introduced the Medical Assistance Protection Act (HF 2354/SF 2689). The bill would increase the budget of and staffing for the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, as well as increasing criminal penalties for Medicaid fraudsters.

I urge the Strib to report on the progress of this and other fraud prevention and investigation legislation. Leave amplifying Thompson’s suspicions to the political propagandists.

Steve Suppan, Wayzata

Today’s incomprehensible fraud scandal in Minnesota social service programs remind me of a conversation I had with the late Warren Spannaus, the state’s attorney general back in the 1970s and ’80s. He would say, if the voters detected patterns of leadership (or lack thereof) that they were dissatisfied with, then, “throw the bums out.” I apply his terse and very concise wisdom to the infuriating situation in St. Paul today.

At a recent news conference, Walz lashed out at federal prosecutors for proclaiming that the total amount of fraud in the state could top $9 billion, adding that to throw out such a number “doesn’t really help us.” Thompson earlier said that investigators have uncovered fraud on a level unmatched in U.S. history.

Doesn’t really help us? What does that mean? Why is the governor quibbling over a billion here and a billion there, when he should have long, long ago asked just who these asleep-at-the-wheel bean-counters responsible for our loonie-state nightmare were? Personally, I think it would be atrocious for a few hundred dollars to be misappropriated. And yet, the governor seems to be downplaying the seriousness of even single-digit losses in the billions. Such mammoth amounts of waste should be of serious concern to everyone on both sides of the aisle.

In the 167-year history of Minnesota, the words of the esteemed Spannaus ring truer today than ever before.

Bruce L. Lindquist, St. Louis Park

I’ve been a Walz supporter since Day One. But if the allegations from the U.S. attorney are true, then Walz needs to step aside. He has shown that he cannot manage his state agencies — and he won’t be able to win with this on his record. I’m sorry, governor, but it’s time to go.

Deborah Jensen, Rogers

I’m surprised that the Minnesota Star Tribune’s cannabis expert, scientist and entrepreneur, contributing columnist Clemon Dabney, doesn’t mention the adverse effects of cannabis and should, at some point, address a real medical issue affecting our population: cannabis use disorder, or CUD, which is a recognized clinical disorder (“Why rescheduling cannabis isn’t enough,” Strib Voices, Dec. 20). I conducted an extensive literature review on CUD using the Consensus search engine, which examines clinical claims, evidence, strength and reasoning from multiple studies. There is strong evidence that CUD affects 10 to 22% of cannabis users, with higher rates seen in adolescents and among frequent users. The clinical features of CUD include cravings, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, mood swings, anxiety and impaired functioning. Additionally, there is strong evidence that CUD is linked to psychiatric comorbidities and cognitive impairments. Multiple comprehensive studies and meta-analyses demonstrate strong associations with mood disorders, anxiety and psychosis. This literature review suggests that the connection between legalization, increased potency and a higher risk for CUD remains debated at this time. The data is hopeful in that it suggests brief interventions have limited but positive effects and that brief interventions in the disorder may increase abstinence.

This data, considering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate that 3 in 10 marijuana users will develop an addiction, Dr. Michael Hsu‘s recent study in JAMA questioning the medical benefits of marijuana, and evidence from Ohio indicating that a significant number of drivers involved in fatal car accidents had used marijuana, should give pause.

It’s truly frightening that this nationwide and state rush to accept cannabis unquestionably will cause so much devastation for many.

The writer is a physician.

In this holiday season when an abundance of gifts are exchanged, many of which may not be needed or even much appreciated, if you should find yourself shorted, give pause before indulging in too much self-pity or resentment. There are many of our friends and neighbors who don’t have the luxury of buying anything extra but are instead worrying about how they can afford the basic costs of living. This season, for them, only exacerbates their daily stress over affording food, shelter, utilities, medicine, insurance. Then there is another large population that must routinely triage those basics and forgo the least necessary expenses. Then there are those who have scribbled a pleading message on a scrap of cardboard and will hold it up with frozen hands for passing motorists, bravely clinging to hope.

Bottom line reminder to us all: Give thanks for what you have, and with a glad heart, share with others from your abundance. You’ll feel better.