- Aug 21, 2003
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The Legislature stumbles into legalizing THC, for better or worse
https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/...to-legalizing-thc-for-better-or-worse-column/
whoops
Remember my fair northern brothers it takes a bit for it to hit.
https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/...to-legalizing-thc-for-better-or-worse-column/
In the final days of the legislative session in May, a bipartisan panel was negotiating the differences between health and human services bills passed by the DFL-led House and GOP-controlled Senate.
They had hundreds of pages to get through, and a bevy of amendments to approve, including one “exempting cannabinoids derived from hemp from Schedule 1 of the controlled substances schedule.”
Not in so many words: Legalizing weed.
After the amendment passed on a unanimous voice vote, here’s state Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka: “That doesn’t legalize marijuana — we didn’t just do that.”
He chuckled.
His DFL co-chair, Rep. Tina Liebling of Rochester replied, “Oh, are you kidding? Of course you have. No, just kidding. We’ll do that next, OK?”
Well, actually, they did it.
As of Friday, July 1, 2022, products with THC — the chemical that gets you high — from “legally certified hemp” can now be manufactured, distributed and sold in Minnesota, in 5-mg increment edibles and drinks.
whoops
And, even more remarkable, Senate Republicans — for years the major hurdle to legalization — were apparently in the dark.
“I thought it was more of a technical fix to the delta-8 problem, and it had a broader effect than I expected,” Abeler told me.
Remember my fair northern brothers it takes a bit for it to hit.