Talking Points: Recreational weed law goes into effect Tuesday, with some lingering confusion
MINNEAPOLIS -- Just two days until marijuana is legal here and the controversies keep coming.
The latest: A dust-up over what the penalties are for youth offenders and the uncertainty about the lengthy period before the administration for legalization is set up.
Esme Murphy is looking into it in Sunday night's Talking Points.
The laws are complicated. Minnesotans won't be able to buy things like full-fledged cannabis flowers or gummies for another year and a half because state officials need to create the oversight apparatus to issue licenses so dispensaries can open.
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The penalty for juvenile use is not spelled out in the new law, but it will still be illegal for minors to possess and use cannabis. The default punishment for a minor caught using is a petty misdemeanor. That is basically the same as a traffic ticket.
Republicans last week wrote a letter to Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders, calling for a special session to put in more specific penalties for minors, give local governments more authority over sales and possession, and close what they call the "Black Market loophole."
The so-called loophole refers to the year and a half it will take from right now to set up a regulated marketplace to administer and oversee sales and licenses. Republicans say it doesn't make sense that it will be legal to use and possess marijuana in just days, but it will take another year and a half before it is legal to sell.
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Democrats are defending the year and a half it will take to set up the administration and licensing.
Sen. Lindsey Port is an author of the legalization bill and was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 am.
"The illicit market is already here in Minnesota. It's not gonna come in suddenly, it's already here," Port said. "And what we know is prohibition and criminalizing of possession and use of marijuana has not worked. It hasn't had any of the desired outcomes to make our communities safer, and so we wanted to end that immediately."
As for what you can do starting Aug. 1, you can legally own and grow marijuana in your home. You are limited to eight plants per person and your growing area is supposed to be in an enclosed locked area. It will also be legal to possess 2 ounces of marijuana in a public place.
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There are exceptions. It will be against the law to possess and use marijuana in a school or on a school bus. And it will also be illegal to use and possess marijuana in federally owned and regulated property such as a federal courthouse, an airport or a national park.
Minnesota will soon be the 23rd state to legalize weed, but as far as the federal government is concerned, using and possessing cannabis will still be against federal law.