Minnesota House Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler this morning outlines guiding principles for a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota. Winkler promised earlier he’ll introduce a bill that will be “the state-of-the-art in the country,” the result of 15 listening sessions around Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz supports legalizing recreational marijuana, but Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka does not. The Republican from Nisswa says, “We did a hearing on that last year. We brought in people from Colorado and all of the data was bad: Homelessness rates were up. Accident rates were up. Mental health problems were up.”
Gazelka says he’s willing to explore ways of reducing the cost of *medical* marijuana, as long it’s not a path to recreational marijuana, as he says happened in Colorado.