Earlier this year Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler had said he was going to introduce what he’d called “the best legalization bill in the country” within the coming weeks.
This was back in February and what happened shortly after his promise was COVID-19.
This week Winkler has finally revealed the promised bill with 33 cosponsors.
“Our current priority is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said after filing the legislation, “but after the town halls and discussions around this issue, we still wanted to put a strong bill forward. As we look to come out of this crisis as a better, stronger Minnesota, we need to continue working toward legalizing cannabis for responsible adult use.”
“We made a commitment to introduce legislation this session, and we wanted to follow through on that commitment.”
The bill is 222 pages long and addresses some of the most salient issues around cannabis legalization in 2020.
Leili Fatehi, campaign manager for Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation said, “We’ve been working with Majority Leader Winkler and his team for nearly a year now to advance conversations in and out of the Capitol. Today’s introduction of a comprehensive, equity-focused cannabis legalization bill is a big step for Minnesota and all Minnesotans who know we can responsibly legalize and regulate.”
“Minnesotans have been loud and clear that our current cannabis laws are doing more harm than good,” Winkler stated. “By creating a regulatory framework we can address the harms caused by cannabis and establish a more sensible set of laws to improve our health care and criminal justice systems and ensure better outcomes for communities.”
