“We're hoping that 2023 is the year when Minnesota becomes the 22nd state.”
The reference to the 22nd state in the nation to legalize adult use recreational marijuana comes from Marcus Harcus, an advocate who says the bill that passed in the house last year had some room for improvement.
Harcus says they want to work with lawmakers to create what he called the best model in the country.
“Which to us means that it's equitably regulated, reasonably taxed and that it justly repairs victims of prohibition”, says Harcus. “This past summer, Minnesota legalized low-dose edibles, or legalized cannabinoid products.
And that totally changed the paradigm.”
Those same views are echoed by House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D- Brooklyn Park).
“It is a criminal reform issue,” says Hortman. “It is critically important that Minnesota right some of the wrongs that have been inflicted on our population because of our prohibition policy.”
Paul Aasen, the President and CEO of the Minnesota Safety Council talked to WCCO’s Adam and Jordana Thursday about why weed should not be legalized in Minnesota despite poll saying a majority of Americans support legalization.
“I don’t think the question is quite that simple,” says Aasen. “Marijuana is a substance that impairs judgement, and from our perspective, particularly from the safety council perspective, we out to ask ourselves what we’re moving into if we’re interested in safety on the roads, safety in the workplace.”
The House bill has a long way to go before becoming law, and it's not clear yet what the Senate, with its narrow Democratic majority, will support.
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