The bill, Senate File 73, was approved by the Senate on Friday with a vote of 34-33 that saw all senators from the Democratic-Farmer-Labour Party (DFL) voting in favour of the bill and all Republicans opposed. The bill would legalize the possession and use of cannabis by adults aged 21 and older and establish a regulatory framework for the production and sale of recreational marijuana.
Adults would be permitted to purchase up to two ounces of cannabis, 8 grams of cannabis concentrates or edibles with up to 800 milligrams of THC. Home cultivation of marijuana would also be allowed, with adults permitted to grow up to eight cannabis plants at home.
DFL Senator Lindsey Port, the lead sponsor of the bill, said that it is time to change Minnesota’s marijuana policy.
“The prohibition of cannabis is a failed system that has not achieved the desired goals and has had incredible costs for our communities, especially for communities of color,” she said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press.
With the bill, Port said that lawmakers have an “opportunity to undo some of the harm that has been done and create a unique system of regulation that works for Minnesota consumers and businesses, while ensuring an opportunity in this new market for communities that have been most affected by prohibition.”
Port added that the measure was considered carefully by lawmakers, who made several amendments to the legislation as it worked its way through the legislative process.
“Minnesotans are ready. Attitudes are changing,” she told Minnesota Public Radio. “Now is our time to undo decades of ineffective and damaging prohibition.”
After the bill was passed by the state Senate, Democratic Governor Tim Walz said that he would approve the legislation, which would make Minnesota the 23rd state in the nation to end the prohibition of marijuana.
The bill also includes measures to address the harms caused by decades of cannabis prohibition, including a provision to expunge convictions for many marijuana-related offenses. DFL Senator Claire Oumou Verbeten said that the legislation is needed to end the racial disparity repeatedly seen in the enforcement of the nation’s drug laws.
“We owe this to the people who have been impacted the most by this prohibition. It’s our communities of colour. It’s Black Minnesotans, especially Black men,” said DFL Senator Claire Oumou Verbeten. “We owe this to them. We can legalize this. We can regulate it. We can expunge,” she said. “Because we have to and because it’s a racial justice issue.”
Photo by Shelby Ireland on Unsplash
