A bill to legalize marijuana in Minnesota cleared its sixth House committee on Thursday. A Senate panel hearing on a companion version was also scheduled, but it’s been postponed.
The House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee approved the legislation from Rep. Zack Stephenson (D) in a voice vote. The bill is now nearly halfway through its expected committee stops in the chamber.
“Minnesotans are ready for this. Our current laws regarding cannabis are doing more harm than good,” Stephenson said in opening remarks to the panel. “Minnesotans deserve the freedom and respect to make their own decisions about cannabis use.”
“We’ll take a very comprehensive approach to cannabis legalization regulation in Minnesota, with the aim of supplanting a currently unregulated illicit marketplace with a safe legal marketplace,” he said.
On the Senate side, the measure is being sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Port (D). It passed through the fourth of 18 committees on Monday. A planned hearing in the State and Local Government and Veterans Committee for Thursday is being pushed back.
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
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