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by Therin Miller | September 8, 2022
Scott Jensen, a former Republican Minnesota state legislator and current GOP gubernatorial candidate for the state, said last week that Minnesota should consider decriminalizing "relatively insignificant amounts" of cannabis and letting voters decide whether to adopt cannabis legalization reforms on the ballot, according to Marijuana Moment.
Jensen endorsed an unsuccessful bipartisan legalization bill as a state senator in 2019 and said last week that he backed letting voters decide on the matter.
Jensen's opponent, incumbent Gov. Tim Walz (D), called for cannabis legalization in his supplemental budget proposal earlier this year and even set aside $25 million to establish a Cannabis Management Office to oversee the program.
Last year, the Minnesota House passed a cannabis legalization bill. Still, the Republican-controlled Senate let it die without being debated on the Senate floor. "Making legalized marijuana for fun, we just don't think that's a good idea," Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R) said at the time.
Minnesota lawmakers did, however, approve a bill to legalize trace amounts of THC in hemp-derived food and beverage products; Governor Walz signed that bill into law in June, and the new rules went into effect on July 4.
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