Upper Midwest a circus of marijuana laws, proposals

A NewsMD analysis found that marijuana laws are in flux in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota. All three states have approved medical marijuana programs. And every state is wrestling proposals to make recreational marijuana legal, in line with a national change in opinion about the drug.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the state’s view of marijuana has changed rapidly over the past 25 years. That shift has only accelerated in the last decade, as state after state decriminalized marijuana, allowing its medicinal use, or fully legalizing it, including for recreational use.

• Marijuana is now completely illegal and undecriminalized in only six states: Idaho, Wyoming, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina, according to DISA Global Solutions, an employee drug testing company that closely follows state drug laws.
• 35 states – including Minnesota, North Dakota, and most recently South Dakota – have some form of medical marijuana program. The number of states rises to 42 if you include those that allow CBD oil to be used medicinally.
• 30 states have decriminalized marijuana.
• 16 states – including recently South Dakota – and the District of Columbia have fully legalized marijuana.

The shift in state laws reflects a broad shift in public opinion. While only 25% of Americans wanted marijuana legalization in 1995, according to pollster Gallup, his poll in late 2020 showed that 68% of Americans are now doing this. It’s an all-time high for legalization support, doubling the support percentage in 2003.

Four states had 2020 election proposals to legalize recreational marijuana, and all four states, including South Dakota, voted for the measures.

Minnesota doesn’t have a initiative process, but if it did, state voters would have legalized marijuana by now, said Jason Tarasek, a pro-cannabis lobbyist and attorney who founded the Minnesota Cannabis law firm.

“The interesting thing is, if you vote people almost everywhere, people will choose to legalize it,” he said.

Why the big shift?

Several cannabis advocates speaking to NewsMD identified a generational focus for supporting marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use. Support for Generation X and Millennials, such as adults aged 40 to 50 and younger, drove out the disapproval of the boomer generation.

It is increasingly recognized that the one-off “War on Drugs” campaign disproportionately targeted color communities, criminalizing many for selling and possessing marijuana that has been decriminalized or legalized in many states.

Proponents also say: The death of the once common tropics about the social and criminal dangers of marijuana, as the film “Reefer Madness” shows. The film was presented as a cautionary story in the 1930s and 1940s before it was later derided by the generation for its exaggerated portrayals. of marijuana use and its effects.

As more states legalize marijuana, anti-drug advocates visit these states and fail to see the social breakdown and violent crimes they have been warned about.

“I think there has been a shift from people who may not have been sure or were really nervous about actually visiting some of these other states and realizing that it’s not really as big a deal as they were led to believe . “said Ned Horsted, eGeneral Manager of the newly formed South Dakota Cannabis Industry Association.

Here are the marijuana laws in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Minnesota:

Minnesota

Minnesota approved a medical marijuana program in 2014, and distribution to patients began in July 2015.

A little more than 18,000 program participants were registered As of December 2019 and the range of qualification requirements has expanded over the years.

The # 1 qualification requirement, Persistent Pain, was the certified justification for just over half of all program participants as of December 2020.

Minnesota’s medical marijuana program restricts the state’s two manufacturing facilities: Vireo Health of Minnesota and LeafLine Labs. In addition, the marijuana sold under the program must be processed into pills or oils – not as marijuana plants with raw buds.

A display at Green Goods in Hermantown, Minnesota shows the color coding used to represent different lines of products for different qualifying medical conditions. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)

The processed product is more expensive, said Tarasek, the pro-cannabis lobbyist and lawyer. Because marijuana has no health insurance, some program participants pay hundreds of dollars a month to get their medication, which is prohibitive for some potential patients, he said.

“Our medical program is one of the most restrictive in the country as to the conditions that would qualify you for medicine,” he said. “It has expanded a bit over the past few years, but is still difficult to access for patients.”

A proposal to legalize adult use of marijuana for adults is currently working through state law.

Democratic Governor Tim Walz has promised he will sign such a bill when he gets to his desk, but proponents expect a Republican-controlled Senate to prevent him from moving forward. A similar bill failed in a vote by the party committee in 2019.

“As the existence of legal marijuana dispensaries nears the Minnesota borders, the natural question is, what are we waiting for?” Said Tarasek. “As long as marijuana remains illegal, the state of Minnesota flushes hundreds of millions of dollars in cash on the toilet because the black market does not pay any illegal marijuana revenue to the Minnesota Treasury.”

North Dakota

North Dakota has a medical marijuana program that was voter-approved in November 2016 and went into effect the following year. although it was another two years before the first pharmacy opened in the state.

State law provides for two manufacturers and eight pharmacies for medical marijuana, including dried leaves or flowers, as well as processed concentrates, solutions, and capsules.

The state’s first pharmacy opened in Fargo in March 2019, and since then seven have opened in Grand Forks, Bismarck, Williston, Minot, Devils Lake, Jamestown and Dickinson.

Medical marijuana grows in Pure Dakota, north of Bismarck. Especially for the forum

The program has proven to be more popular than planned, said Jason Wahl, director of the Department of Medical Marijuana at the Department of Health. The state has 5,100 registered patients in its program.

“When we set up the budget, we had expected 4,000 patients by June 30, 2021,” said Wahl. “So you can see that we are ahead of that projection at this point.”

North Dakota has weighed the legalization of recreational marijuana, but so far none of the efforts have materialized. Voters shot down an election measure for 2018 by around 20 points. But state legislators approved a measure in 2019 Lowering the penalty for possessing a small amount of marijuana.

At the end of March, despite the approval of the House, the Senate Voted a recreational cannabis program for adults and a decriminalization proposal, then killed one attempt to put legalization on the 2022 ballot.

However, marijuana advocates in the state have stated that they plan to collect the signatures needed to take action for the 2022 vote, including a signature making cannabis legal in the state constitution.

South Dakota

South Dakota has perhaps had the most recent and tumultuous battles over marijuana legislation in the region.

Voters approved both medicinal and recreational marijuana in November – an amazing development in a state where marijuana was previously completely illegal.

A 2010 medical marijuana election was decisively rejected. Proponents tried and failed to collect enough signatures for a medical marijuana poll in 2018. However, the campaign for action in 2020 included national support and improved fundraising. The expanded campaign showed its worth as “yes” commercials flooded the state’s airwaves, dwarfing the minimal and relatively disorganized opposition.

In November, Voters overwhelmingly supported Initiated measure 26, the proposal for medical marijuana, by a large margin: 70% to 30%. Voters voted more in favor of Amendment A, an amendment to the state constitution to legalize recreational marijuana, by 54% to 46%. Both measures should take effect on July 1st.

Nevertheless, both measures remain associated with challenges.

Proponents said they had full legalization in the form of a constitutional amendment to prevent lawmakers from changing or knocking it down. Legislators have done this in the past with other, unrelated voting measures.

“There is a tendency in South Dakota to tinker with what voters passed on the ballot,” he said Horsted, eGeneral Manager of the newly formed South Dakota Cannabis Industry Association. “The reason they put adults in the constitution was because they knew that it is not safe for the legislation to intervene, basically if they try to change things after the fact.”

Governor Kristi Noem, who opposes both measures, supported a judicial challenge to Amendment A. In February a State judge dejected The new amendment is too broad and does not meet the state’s constitutional requirements for changes. The lawyers appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on the matter on April 28.

Noem also supported a legislative effort to postpone the implementation date of Measure 26, the Medical Marijuana Act, by one year. Legislators, however, opposed a lengthy delay in implementing such a clearly popular electoral measure, and rejected a final Senate version that included something like a proposal to decriminalize poison pill marijuana.

Horsted hopes his organization will now work with the state to create a legal framework for medical marijuana.

However, Noem has stated that she is ready to convene a special session of the legislature for late May or early June to discuss Measure 26 as well as other laws.