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Release: Liebling will introduce legislation for a constitutional amendment to end Minnesota’s prohibition on personal use and cultivation of cannabis

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Release: Liebling will introduce legislation for a constitutional amendment to end Minnesota’s prohibition on personal use and cultivation of cannabis

Liebling’s legislation will include a set of comprehensive policies to allow for more personal freedom, a robust cannabis market, and funding for chemical dependency and mental health education and treatment.

SAINT PAUL, MN—Today, State Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) announced that she intends to introduce legislation to give voters an opportunity to end Minnesota’s prohibition on personal use and cultivation of cannabis.

“Minnesotans know that the prohibition on cannabis is costly, harmful and antiquated,” remarked Liebling. “Estimates of the cost of cannabis enforcement in Minnesota range from $42 million a year for possession offenses alone to $137 million a year for all cannabis arrests. Yet Minnesotans spend perhaps $700 million a year on cannabis, indirectly helping fund crime through an enormous black market. All this for a substance that—while not harmless—is far safer than alcohol.”

“My bill would let citizens decide whether it is time to try a different path—one already successfully paved by many other states.”

The legislation will include comprehensive policies that allow for a robust, competitive market in which small producers and sellers can participate, assure purchasers that the product is uncontaminated and properly labeled, allow adults to cultivate cannabis for personal use, and protect youth from exposure. Sales would be taxed, and the proceeds focused on chemical dependency and mental health education and treatment.

Rep. Liebling welcomes the introduction of other bills and ideas to reduce the harms inflicted by cannabis prohibition and looks forward to a robust discussion of these issues.

Rep. Liebling is the DFL-HHS Reform Committee. Rep. Liebling can be contacted by email at rep.tina.liebling@house.mn or phone at 651-296-7173.

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