Cannabis (MN Governor's Race)

The legalization of marijuana is an issue that has quickly gained steam in recent years. In 2014, a Star Tribune poll showed that just 30% of respondents favored legalization while 63% opposed. A poll at the State Fair in 2017 showed that 50.6% favored full legalization. Nationally, a Quinnipac University poll in April of 2018 showed support for legalization had his an all time high at 63% with support for medical marijuana at 93%. In Minnesota, cannabis is legal for medical purposes, but illegal for recreational use. Minnesota became the 22nd state to legalize medical marijuana in 2014 when Governor Mark Dayton did so for conditions such as cancer, seizures, and some chronic diseases. He has been opposed to recreational legalization.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana with ballot initiatives. Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia have all followed suit. Significantly, Vermont legalized it through their state legislature without a ballot initiative, becoming the first state to do so.

What are the benefits of doing so? Marijuana sales create millions to billions (California) in tax revenue and most states have it written into the law that a portion of that money will benefit public education. For example, for the 2017-2018 school year, the Colorado Department of Education received 90.3 million from marijuana revenue. Keep in mind, though, that that won’t solve all of the financial issues in public education, as overall K-12 education funding for the state of Colorado was 5.6 billion for the 2017-2018 school year. In Washington, which generates about $700 million in tax revenue, more than half of the revenue is dedicated to public health programs such as expanding Medicade or funding substance abuse programs.

Another benefit is tourism. 82.4 million travelers visited Colorado in 2016. 15% of those visitors engaged in some marijuana related activity and 5% named it as the motivation for their trip giving Colorado more tourists than most states.

The legalization of marijuana would also lead to a decline in marijuana related arrests and the costs of prosecuting them and imprisoning them. Marijuana arrests and incarcerations disproportionately affect people of color despite the fact that 5 times as many whites are using drugs as blacks. Nationally, blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses at a rate of 10 times the rate of whites. African American serve nearly as much time in prison for non-violent drug offenses (58.7 months) as whites do for violent offenses (61.7 months). In Minnesota, blacks are 6.4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites.

Why do people oppose it? Some still view it as a public safety and health risk. It is a drug, after all. Others say it’s just about big business making money at the expense of the consumer and cite concerns about the industry having no federal oversight since marijuana is illegal at the federal level. Therefore, there are no quality standards or oversight on the growth, processing, packaging, or sale. Data is severely lacking for long-term studies on the effects on society for legalization. They point to the addictive qualities and the inevitability that the marijuana industry will market to children, much like the tobacco industry, and the industry will continue to seek new and increasingly frequent users in order to make money. They say we have enough issues with tobacco and alcohol and don’t need yet another legal intoxicant.

Here is where the candidates stand:

Jeff Johnson-R: Candidate Johnson supported the 2014 bill that legalized medical marijuana, but is opposed to recreational marijuana legalization. In 2014, he was the only GOP gubernatorial candidate to support medical marijuana. Concerning recreational marijuana, he says, “My focus will be on fixing those things that are making life difficult for Minnesota’s middle class. Not legalizing pot.”

Erin Murphy-D: Candidate Murphy supports legalizing marijuana use for recreational purposes including record expungement, a process for releasing non-violent offenders, and support for them as they transition out of the criminal justice system. She also supports expanding the medical cannabis program so that doctors could prescribe medical cannabis to any patient they see fit. She says that this would give doctor’s more tools to help people manage pain and would reduce use of opioids. She is the only candidate to address this issue as a part of her vision on her website.

Tim Pawlenty-R: Back in 2009, as governor, Candidate Pawlenty vetoed a bill to allow terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana. He claimed he was “sympathetic to those dealing with end of life illness” but he felt that marijuana posed “serious public safety and health risks.” I could not find any updated position.

Lori Swanson-D: Candidate Swanson has made no public statements on this issue and I could not find anything concerning her position.

Tim Walz-D: Candidate Walz supports the legalization of marijuana for recreational uses. As part of his work in Washington as a congressman, he has been active in trying to get medicinal marijuana to military veterans. Additionally, he notes, “The system we have had was that we looked the other way, unless you’re a person of color, in which case you face the threat of arrest and incarceration.” He has also stated, “We have an opportunity in Minnesota to replace the current failed policy with one that creates tax revenue, grows jobs, builds opportunities for Minnesotans, protects Minnesota kids, and trusts adults to make personal decisions based on their personal freedoms.”