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Minnesota Senate votes to legalize recreational marijuana; Walz has pledged to sign bill

Minnesota will become the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana for adults under a bill passed by the Senate and sent to the governor’s desk early Saturday.

DFL Gov. Tim Walz has pledged to sign the measure, which passed the House on Thursday. Lawmakers said it will take a year or longer for retail dispensaries to open, but marijuana possession will be decriminalized and home growing of cannabis legal as of 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 34-32 along party lines to pass the bill just before 1:30 a.m.

Nearly every Republican senator voted against it; one abstained. They raised concerns about public health and safety effects, 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.”

Once the commercial market is set up, Minnesotans age 21 or older will be able to buy up to 2 ounces of cannabis flower, 8 grams of concentrate and 800 milligrams of edible products at a time, and possess those amounts in public.

[Read more at Star Tribune]
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