The Minnesota Senate passed its version of a recreational marijuana bill Friday, with supporters united in wearing green. Meanwhile, several Republican Senators voiced opposition to the passage of it anyway.
The bill’s author, Senator Lindsey Port (DFL- Burnsville), says now is the time to legalize marijuana in Minnesota.
“Minnesotans are ready, attitudes are changing, now is our time to undo decades of ineffective and damaging prohibition,” Port said on the Senate Floor Friday.
The bill passed with a 34-33 party line vote. The Senate has a slim, one vote DFL majority. Now the bill heads into negotiations with the Minnesota House. They passed their version on Tuesday. If a new version can be agreed on, then it would head to Governor Tim Walz who says he will sign it.
The bill includes an amendment eliminating local government control, meaning local units will not be allowed to oppose cannabis sales in their communities.
Senator Eric Pratt (R- Prior Lake) opposes that amendment.
“But the idea that we are preempting the locals from even deciding whether they want this, when they can do the very same thing for tobacco, they can do the very same thing for liquor, but they have to have cannabis,” says Pratt. “And I think it’s wrong for us to preempt our local jurisdictions and this just reinforces that preemption.”
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Senator Erin Murphy (DFL- St. Paul) did speak in favor of another amendment that would provide more money for substance abuse treatment.
“Making cannabis legal doesn’t mean more people are going to use it, or less people are going to use it,” says Murphy. “We know people are using it today. The Hoffman Amendment means there’s more access to support. And that’s important.”
There were several other Republican Senators who spoke out against the bill including John Jasinski (R- Faribault) who says legalizing marijuana will do nothing to slow down the illegal market.
“This bill is just going to make it more accessible to our children, to more people,” Jasinski says. “We’re going to create more issues. And secondly, if you think the illegal market is going to go away because we’re legalizing it, I’m sorry that is not correct.”
“Study after study that you can get anxiety, oh, a little paranoia, that’s what we got,” said Senator Jim Abeler (R- Anoka). “I didn't know you can get schizophrenia you can get that with this stuff. We didn't have that back in my time. You can get psychosis. Mr. President, you know what psychosis is. Psychosis is when the synapses in your brain start to sort of fry.”
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