ST. PAUL — Emotions ran high as debate kicked off at the state Capitol on Wednesday on whether Minnesota should legalize recreational marijuana.

Marijuana supporters heckled opponents of legalization during a news conference that ended in a shouting match.

“The current science does not support the commercialization and normalization of recreational marijuana,” said Judson “Kim” Bemis Jr., chairman of the Minnesota affiliate of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He said use by teens and young adults “skyrockets” when marijuana is legalized.

After Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom and Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie also spoke against legalization, St. Paul community activist John Thompson related how his friend, Philando Castile , was shot and killed by a police officer who said he smelled burnt marijuana after stopping Castile’s car in Falcon Heights in 2016.

The case gained nationwide attention when Castile’s girlfriend livestreamed the immediate aftermath on Facebook, fueling growing protests across the country over police shootings of black men. The officer, Jeronimo Yanez, who is Latino, shot Castile, a black man, just seconds after Castile informed him he had a gun. A jury acquitted Yanez of manslaughter.