Reality Check: What Would Legal Recreational Pot Look Like For Minnesotans?
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Legislators are working on several bills to legalize marijuana that would change Minnesota's cultural landscape.
If approved, Minnesota would join 10 states and the District of Columbia to legalize pot, including our Midwestern neighbor, Michigan. Thirty-three states have already legalized medical cannabis. It's a national trend, and it's raising unexpected questions.
Minnesota incarcerated 487 men for marijuana violations in 2017, and hundreds more in previous years.
The new DFL governor, who supports legalization, says he wants to find a way to erase those records.
Gov. Tim Walz said he thinks the expungement of those records is "foundational."
If Minnesota says "yes," marijuana would be legal at age 21 to possess, use, buy or carry.
And Minnesotans could grow it for personal use -- other states allow up to 12 cannabis plants.
Like alcohol, it would be licensed, taxed and regulated.
Of the 10 states where pot is already legal, nine of them approved it by a statewide ballot measure.
And the first bill introduced in Minnesota is a constitutional amendment for a statewide vote -- that means Minnesotans would vote on legal pot in the 2020 presidential election.
And it won't be easy.
Of the 213 constitutional amendments proposed in Minnesota history, only 120 have been approved.
That's Reality Check.