On Thursday night, Tim Walker reported for Session Daily, House passes finalized cannabis legalization bill, sends it to Senate.
Early Saturday morning, KARE 11 political reporter John Croman tweeted:
History made in the wee hours -- Minnesota Senate gives final approval to the adult-use cannabis bill, sending it to Gov. Walz's desk. Recreational marijuana prohibition will end this summer. Straight party-line vote. pic.twitter.com/izHfvXBQ8x
— John Croman (@JohnCroman) May 20, 2023
The legislature now passes the bill to Governor Walz, who supports legal adult recreational cannabis, for his signature.
At Minnesota Public Radio, Dana Ferguson and Brian Bakst report in Capitol roundup: Marijuana bill headed to Walz after Senate passage:
The Minnesota Senate voted 34-32 early Saturday morning to pass a bill legalizing cannabis for use by people 21 and older, teeing up the measure for the governor’s signature.
Gov. Tim Walz has said he plans to sign the bill into law, making Minnesota the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
The state has had a medical marijuana program for nearly a decade that started with oils, pills and other non-smokable forms. Leaf form was authorized for that program in 2021. Fewer than half of the other states allow people to grow their own.
“The prohibition on cannabis has had tremendously negative impacts on the lives of Minnesotans, especially our communities of color, and it is time for us to change course, create a system that works for adult-use cannabis, and create a regulated market for Minnesota,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville.
The bill would set up a new board to oversee licensing of cannabis retailers, and sponsors said that process could take up to 18 months to roll out. Before that — starting in August — the bill would allow adults to grow and possess limited quantities of marijuana without criminal penalties.
Individuals could possess two pounds at their homes and two ounces on their person. And they could grow up to eight plants as long as only four are mature at any given time.
Dispensaries offering cannabis products will be further away, perhaps a year to 18 months from now. . . .
Most Senate Republicans aren't ready for the change. Ferguson and Bakst report:
Republicans countered that there are still too many questions about impaired driving, addiction and mental health consequences for the state to take such a dramatic step.
“I don’t believe that this bill in front of us today is ready. I have concerns about what it will mean for public safety, the limited local control and the limits on local decision-making for our communities, “said Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, said. “I’m also concerned about putting our kids’ health at risk and creating an unworkable system that will not get rid of the black market.”
Reporting for the Star Tribune, Ryan Faircloth reports in Minnesota Senate votes to legalize recreational marijuana; Walz has pledged to sign bill:
Minnesota will become the 23rd state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana for adults under a bill passed by the Senate and sent to the governor's desk early Saturday morning.
DFL Gov. Tim Walz has pledged to sign the measure, which was passed by the House on Thursday, into law. While lawmakers said it will take a year or longer for the first retail dispensary to open, marijuana possession will be decriminalized and home growing of cannabis will become legal on Aug. 1.
"The war on drugs has had devastating, harmful effects on our communities," Sen. Lindsey Port, a Burnsville Democrat who sponsored the bill, said Saturday. "It is time. Minnesotans are ready. Let's legalize, regulate and expunge."
The DFL-controlled Senate voted along party lines, 34-32, passing the bill just before 1:30 a.m.
Almost every Republican senator voted against it, with one abstaining from the vote. They raised concerns about public health and safety impacts, among other things.
"I really think this is going to harm Minnesota like nobody understands," said Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault. "Not one law enforcement agency, not one law enforcement person will tell you this is going to benefit our state." . . .
Here in South Dakota, voters approved one measure to legalize cannabis, which was thrown out in the courts with the help of Governor Noem. A second ballot measure was defeated last fall.
I'm allergic to hemp products, so cannabis legalization is a policy question for Bluestem Prairie, not a recreational option. We hope friends in Big Stone County establish weed-and-breakfast inns so that our fellow South Dakotans don't import cannabis to the Rushmore State--or drive under the influence.
Related posts
- South Dakotans return dope to governor's office, defeat legal pot, preserve Pierre's red swamp
- While will of the people stifled in South Dakota, MN absentmindedly legalized THC edibles
- On Sensible Change MN Cannabis Policy Voter Guide, Ingebrigtsen clings to reefer madness
- Another one from our back pages: Republican operative Kip Christianson in the news
- Some legalize cannabis candidates are giving off very MAGA vibes, J. Patrick Coolican, MN Reformer, June 15, 2020
- How marijuana legalization party candidates could decide control of the Minnesota Senate, Peter Callaghan, MinnPost, August 21, 2020
- Is Legal Marijuana Now Being used to Spoil Elections in Minnesota? Oliver Steinberg, MinnMarijuana, August 21, 2020
- Sheriff Bill and Bub Nornes go full blown grumpy cats on medical cannabis bills
- Raw marijuana menace: Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen speaks out against legalizing killer weed
- Ingebrigtsen & Rosen warn colleagues about "dangerously addictive" pot that rips apart families
- Have a hemp heart: Sheriff Bill gets a free bag
- Grumpy cat Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen still grumpy about industrial hemp's infernal roots in Hell
- Ingebrigtsen update: grumpy cat is still grumpy about medical cannabis & intractable pain
- Ingebrigtsen update, part 2: Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas, your kids think pot is a-okay
- MN Senator Gary Dahms shares scary vision of pot-loving DFL majority with Brown Co faithful
- Hagedorn: Senator Gary Dahms stands between you and socialist legal recreational marijuana:
Photo: A supporter of cannabis legalization demonstrates in front of the Capitol in 2021. The House repassed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis, as amended in conference committee, May 18 and sent HF100 to the Senate. (Minnesota House Photography file photo/ Via Session Daily).
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