Minnesota House votes to legalize marijuana

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CN) — Minnesota’s House of Representatives passed a massive marijuana legalization bill early Tuesday afternoon, clearing the first hurdle to the full legalization of recreational use in the Gopher State. 

The bill, broadly supported by the state’s Democratic Farmer Labor Party and sponsored by DFL Representative Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids, would allow possession and use of cannabis for people over the age of 21 and establish an Office of Cannabis Management to regulate its sale and taxation. It would also establish expungement procedures for certain cannabis-related convictions and evictions.

Legislators debated the bill late into the night Monday before adjourning and taking the topic back up Tuesday morning, eventually passing the legislation in the afternoon.  

“Members, it’s time. Minnesotans deserve the freedom and the respect to make their own decisions about cannabis use,” Stephenson said when presenting the bill Monday night. “Our current laws have failed….They’re doing more harm than good. Minnesotans want a different approach to their cannabis laws, and this bill delivers.” 

The DFL’s majority in the Senate and the longtime support for legalization by DFL Governor Tim Walz make the bill likely to go into effect later this year, though some differences remain to be ironed out between the House’s bill and the Senate’s. 

Among those is taxation. The House bill, as passed, sets up an 8% tax on cannabis sales through June of 2027 and pegs the tax to cannabis-related expenditures in subsequent years. The Senate bill, meanwhile, sets the sales tax at 10% and offers none of that leeway. 

The two bills also differ on the amount of weed individuals are allowed to possess. The House bill allows for the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis flower in public and up to 1.5 pounds of it in their home. It also allows for gifts of two ounces or less of flower or eight grams or less of concentrate to adults over 21, as long as no money is exchanged. The Senate bill is more lenient on the home possession front, allowing individuals to keep up to 2 pounds in their homes. 

Walz is expected to sign whichever version of the bill hits his desk, having been an advocate for legalization in both his 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial campaigns. DFL legislators passed a prior marijuana legalization bill through the House in 2021, but it was stymied by the GOP-led Senate at the time. 

Passage did not fall cleanly on party lines in Tuesday’s vote, with a handful of Republicans voting in favor of the bill and one Democrat, Winona’s Gene Pelowski, going against it. 

The most vocal Republican supporter, Stephenson’s neighbor Nolan West of Blaine, nevertheless raised some issues with the bill. Incentives for weed entrepreneurs in impoverished neighborhoods and for racial minorities were “woke nonsense,” he said, but he clarified that he would be voting for the bill even without an amendment he proposed to remove those carve-outs. 

Any Democrats who opposed the bill were silent on the issue during the floor session. Republican opponents, meanwhile, brought a barrage of amendments to the bill, most of which failed. The lengthiest discussions Monday night regarded amendments brought by opponents Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, and Jim Nash, R-Waconia, which would have granted cities the ability to ban dispensaries or nix marijuana sales outright. The current bill allows cities to set restrictions on where and when marijuana businesses can operate, but not to deny licenses. 

“There’s still going to be a black market here after this bill passes. It’s gonna happen. No other state has stopped it,” Representative Dave Baker, R-Willmar, said in support of Robbins’ amendment. “So why not give our local folks a little more credibility?”

Those amendments failed, with former St. Peter city councilmember Jeff Brand, D-St. Peter, pointing out that city councils had, and would retain, power to designate which zones marijuana sales could take place in. 

Amendments that succeeded included one brought by Representative Anne Neu Brindley, R-North Branch, which specified that public school bus drivers would still be prohibited from partaking. Another created warning labels on marijuana products cautioning against their use by pregnant mothers. 

Supporters whooped and applauded in the House chambers after the bill passed with a 71-59 margin around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Shortly before passage, Representative Jessica Hanson, D-Burnsville, offered her own applause to those supporters. 

“This community showed up, they told their stories, they collaborated, they organized, and they developed a model that kicked off the bill that’s before us today,” she said. “This is what it looks like to be the change you want to see in the world.” 

“Prohibition is a failed, racist system. It was put in place to intentionally harm black and brown Americans. Prohibition has failed to keep communities safer than legalization can,” Hanson added. “It has been nothing less than propaganda and a lie.”

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