At long last, Minnesota’s medical cannabis patients will be allowed to use cannabis in flower form instead of being limited to extracts and other more costly preparations!

The Minnesota House and Senate have approved a conference committee version of an omnibus health bill that allows flower for patients who are 21 or older and includes other medical cannabis improvements. Gov. Tim Walz (D) is expected to sign the bill — HF 2128 — into law.

Flower cannabis would be allowed beginning either on March 1, 2022, or at an earlier date if the Health Commissioner determines testing labs and rules are ready sooner.

HF 2128 also relaxes provisions for caregivers. All patients would be allowed to have caregivers, who could pick up their cannabis for them. Currently, patients can only have a caregiver if their health providers attest they require assistance due to a disability. The bill also allows caregivers to serve any number of patients from up to six households — rather than limiting them to a single patient  — and allows curbside pickup.

Thanks to the more than 330 of you who wrote key senators in support of allowing flower cannabis! We are also grateful to our allies at Sensible Change Minnesota for leading the advocacy effort to improve Minnesota’s medical cannabis program.

In other news, the legislature adjourned its regular session on Saturday. As expected, the Senate did not take up the House-passed bill to legalize cannabis for adults — HF 600.

Over the summer and fall, consider setting up a meeting with your state senator to make the case for legalizing and regulating cannabis for adults. You can find some pointers for lobby visits here. We also have talking points and a wealth of other information.

Thank you for supporting humane cannabis policies!

Read more

[caption id="attachment_6925" align="alignright" width="125"] Commissioner Harry Chen[/caption]

Last week brought new hope for making marijuana legal in Vermont, a state that just decriminalized marijuana possession this past summer. Harry Chen, Vermont’s Health Commissioner, indicated support for taxing and regulating marijuana at the end of the week:

Let’s see what happens in other states. We have a grand experiment going on in Washington state and Colorado, certainly in my discussions with officials around the country we want to see what happens in these states when you start to regulate it.

…

We want to ensure there’s appropriate funding for any dealing with the health effects just like we theoretically have liquor taxes and we do devote some of that money to dealing with the health effects of alcohol. [MPP emphasis added]

Chen’s comments come after Gov. Shumlin (D) said he was open to the idea of marijuana legalization last Wednesday. 

Just last Monday, MPP predicted Vermont to be one of the next 10 states to legalize marijuana use and pledged to support efforts in those states to end marijuana prohibition by 2017.

Read more