Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Approved By More House And Senate Committees
MJmooment
A marijuana legalization bill cleared additional Minnesota House Senate committees on Thursday. The House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee passed the measure from Rep. Zack Stephenson (D) in a voice vote—the eleventh in the chamber to do so this session. Later in the day, the Senate Labor Committee also advance the companion version sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Port (D) in a voice vote, making it the eighth panel in that body to sign off on the legislation this year. “Minnesotans are ready for this change,” Stephenson told members of the House committee. “Our current laws are doing more harm than good.” Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten (D), who presented the proposal on behalf of Port on the Senate side, told panel members that the legislation “is about allowing adults to safely and responsibly use cannabis” and that it “creates a regulated marketplace that is much safer than our current underground illicit marketplace.” “I really care about this bill because of expungement and because of the fact that cannabis prohibition has caused immense harm in our communities in the criminal justice system,” she said, noting racial disparities in the enforcement of criminalization. “When we legalize, there’s this responsibility to have expungement and to clear those records,” the senator said. “The other thing that’s really important about this bill is making sure that the benefits of legalizing cannabis go towards those who were most harmed by cannabis prohibition, so it’s ensuring that they get to participate in the new regulated market… For me, it’s about repairing harm and righting those those wrongs and addressing the racial injustice.”
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Source : Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Approved By More House And Senate Committees
reposted by Cannabis News World
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