The Minnesota legislature has approved large-scale legislation that contains provisions to legalize drug paraphernalia possession, syringe services, residue and testing—a win for harm reduction advocates in the state.
As part of a criminal justice and public safety omnibus bill, bicameral lawmakers agreed to a final conference report last week that includes the drug policy reform measures. The Senate passed the report on Friday and the House approved it on Monday in a 69-63 vote, sending it to the governor’s desk.
The bill removes language from code that currently criminalizes the possession and delivery of drug paraphernalia. As revised, the new law would only say that it is “unlawful for any person to intentionally manufacture drug paraphernalia for delivery,” omitting the previous possession language for the misdemeanor offense.
Also, small amounts of drug residue that are discovered on paraphernalia would no longer constitute illegal possession under the legislation, which incorporated language from a standalone bill sponsored by Rep. Aisha Gomez (D).
MINNESOTA HOUSE PASSES legalization of ALL drug paraphernalia and ALL drug residue contained in drug paraphernalia.@GovTimWalz it’s now your turn to make history.
Minnesota’s echo is quite loud this morning….can you hear it?? #proud @DrugPolicyOrg @HarmReduction pic.twitter.com/5NqkaltTW6
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