Friends and neighbors,
Throughout this session, the Democrat majority bulldozed a wide range of controversial bills into law with their narrow trifecta majority. One of the policies my Republican colleagues and I expressed major concern with is the legalization of recreational marijuana. With critical safety issues and numerous health and social problems, we made it clear this legislation was not ready to become law in Minnesota.
Yet Democrats chose to ignore the warning signs. And only a month into legal recreational cannabis use, there are all kinds of problems popping up as we speak.
First, this legislation is written in a way that allows for cannabis use almost anywhere including by our schools, churches and libraries. This issue is at the center of a recent MinnPost story titled, Where you can and can’t smoke marijuana in Minnesota come Aug. 1. In this article, Senator Lindsey Port (DFL-Burnsville), the bill’s Senate author, shares that, “Cities can put ordinances in for outdoors as they do with cigarette smoking. But assuming that the city doesn’t have an ordinance against it, you could smoke outside, in parks, if you’re a certain distance from children’s play areas.”
As noted by the bill author, it’s true municipalities can enact ordinances to regulate public marijuana use. However, there was a very short time between municipalities understanding they need to enact ordinances and the legalization of cannabis on August 1. This means cities and counties are now scrambling to pass local laws governing the public use of marijuana in outdoor public spaces.
I applaud the local governments trying to implement commonsense restrictions to keep our children safe from exposure to this newly legalized but silently harmful drug. At least 10 cities have temporarily banned cannabis sales, and I strongly urge more local government leaders to take the time and consider what’s best for raising young people in your community.
Additionally, Minnesota is in a period where it is legal to possess and consume cannabis, but it is illegal to buy or sell it (except for certain dispensaries on tribal land). Proponents of legal marijuana maintain decriminalization reduces crime by deterring marijuana production and sale away from underground markets. The illicit market, however, is an even greater problem because marijuana possession is no longer a crime, and this is exactly what California experienced after legalizing cannabis in 2016.
A 2021 article by The Guardian notes that the illegal marijuana market continues to thrive in California and is far from the law-abiding, successful sector that was anticipated. This is reflected by California business owners who shared that, “high taxes, the limited availability of licenses, and expensive regulatory costs have put the legal market out of reach. I believe this is likely the fate of Minnesota’s legal cannabis market too.
Further, with state-licensed dispensaries not expected to open until 2025, there are few legal options for obtaining cannabis in Minnesota. We have already seen cases of illegal marijuana sales due to confusion, misinformation and misunderstanding of the law. For example, law enforcement stepped in when a man was illegally selling marijuana plants outside of a tobacco shop in Faribault. A Mahnomen smoke shop was also raided by police for illegal marijuana sales. These are just a couple examples of known illegal marijuana sales, but even more concerning is the massive illegal market that continues to go on behind in scenes in our state.
Besides the strong confusion surrounding the complex marijuana law, I would like to emphasize the troubling health and social problems related to cannabis use. Sure, there are some possible positive medical benefits, which is true of a lot of powerful drugs used for legitimate medical reasons to treat a specific disease or condition. This is why Minnesota already legalized medical cannabis. However, the harmful side effects of cannabis use must not be ignored.
Researchers are cautioning against the rise in what’s called ‘marijuana use disorder,’ where habitual use of the drug often adversely impacts a user’s life. And startlingly, there is a spike in suicides for those who start using it.
Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser to Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton, noted, “There is a massive increase in mental illness as a result of this increase in marijuana use. We know that today’s marijuana can quintuple your risk of psychosis and schizophrenia which is the worst thing you can imagine. It increases about six times the risk of suicide. We have a suicide epidemic in this country.” Even doctors who served under Democrat presidents are warning of the dangerous of marijuana.
Additionally, around 30% of people who use marijuana become addicted, with the risk of developing a use disorder significantly greater if you start during youth or adolescence. Data also shows marijuana negatively affects attention, memory, and learning, and this is especially true for adolescents. This data raises a concerning question: what effect will legal marijuana have on the well-being of Minnesotans?
In addition to health and social problems related to marijuana, legal cannabis also raises critical safety concerns. With cannabis now legal in Minnesota, impaired driving is a central concern for our state’s law enforcement officers. Currently, if a motorist is suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana, there is no breath test to reliably detect the presence and concentration of THC. Therefore, how could we legalize marijuana without the tools to properly assure the driving public that they’re safe against marijuana-impaired drivers?
With the smoke starting to settle, it’s clear Minnesota was not yet ready for this new law.