ST. PAUL — Members of the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday, May 18, blocked an effort to make the chamber vote on whether Minnesota should legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Democrats in the chamber sought to pull the bill out of committee and put it on the floor for a vote, noting that the House of Representatives passed it but it didn’t get a hearing in the Senate. But on a 33-31 vote, the GOP-led chamber voted against the motion to take up the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Melisa LĂłpez Franzen, DFL-Edina, authored the bill and said that the people of Minnesota supported efforts to make marijuana available for adult use. And she said Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers would keep up efforts to get it passed in the final days of the legislative session.
“Minnesotans want to have this conversation about legalization of cannabis and they want to see us move ahead,” LĂłpez Franzen said. “We all know that legalizing cannabis will have economic benefits, but just as importantly, we need to address the disparities in the criminal justice system around cannabis.”
Republicans in the chamber voted against the procedural motion and they voiced concerns about decriminalizing marijuana and making it available for legal use.
“I can’t believe we’re even talking about that,” Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said on the floor. “This is not helping police, if it’s voted in police are going to have a little more security because they’re going to be cleaning up a lot of accidents on our highways.”
Minnesota currently allows marijuana for medical use for certain conditions approved by the state department of health. Eighteen other states have laws on the books allowing the use of cannabis for recreational purposes.
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