Another Minnesota Senate Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill
MJ moment

Another Minnesota Senate committee approved a bill to legalize marijuana in the state on Tuesday, bringing the total number of panels in the chamber to advance the legislation so far this session to six. The Health and Human Services Committee passed the legislation from Sen. Lindsey Port (D) in a voice vote. The panel began considering the legislation and adopted several amendments last week but ran out of time to complete its work, necessitating the follow-up meeting on Tuesday. “This is not something we are flippantly moving without thought. This is something we’re taking very seriously,” Port told committee members ahead of the vote. “We’re taking it seriously because it has done significant harm to our communities—the prohibition of cannabis has done significant harm to our communities. And we see it as critical that we do what we can to undo that harm.”

With majorities in both the House and Senate and control over the governorship this session, Democratic-Farmer-Labor party officials are confident that legalization will be enacted in short order following the extensive committee consideration. The governor recently released his biennial budget request, which included proposed funding to implement marijuana legalization and expungements, and made projections about the millions of dollars in cannabis tax revenue that his office estimates the state will earn after the reform is enacted. Gov. Tim Walz (D) discussed his proposal in a recent interview, explaining why he’s calling for a tax rate on marijuana sales that’s nearly double that of the bill that’s advancing in the legislature. That legislation is an iteration of the 2021 House-passed bill from former Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D), who now serves as campaign chairman of the advocacy coalition MN is Ready. That group announced last month that it would be lobbying for the measure while leading a grassroots effort to…

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Source : Another Minnesota Senate Committee Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill

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