Photo by Associated Press
legal-pot
As of August 1, adult-use marijuana is legal in Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz signed the bill into law on May 30 after politicians, like former Governor Jesse Ventura, who loudly supported legalization while in office, and activist groups pressed for legalization for decades. But that doesn’t mean Minnesotans can hit a dispensary as soon as the calendar flips to August.
Starting this month, possession, use, and growing cannabis plants at home are legal, but the state is still in the process of creating an Office of Cannabis Management to process licenses and manage other bureaucratic tasks for both recreational and medical marijuana (legal since 2014). So, it could be a year or more before dispensaries selling goods other than the hemp-derived THC products on the market today really start popping up around town. And while expungement of misdemeanors on criminal records will start immediately, it could take nearly a year to get through them all. (Felonies, on the other hand, will be potentially reduced or expunged on a case-by-case basis.)
10 percent
Recreational marijuana’s Minnesota tax rate, for at least the first four years, which is lower than in most states: Colorado’s is 15 percent, for instance, and Washington’s is a whopping 37 percent.
0
Minnesota medical marijuana patients’ new registration and annual fees, in dollars. Previously, both were $200.
321
Number of pages in the state’s recreational marijuana bill.
22
Number of states that legalized recreational marijuana before Minnesota, beginning with Washington and Colorado in 2012.
8
Number of cannabis plants an individual can grow in an indoor or outdoor garden (but only four can flower at one time.)
2
Number of pounds of marijuana people can legally possess at home under the new law (they can also have 2 ounces in public.)
15 million
Amount, in dollars, the new law allocates to law enforcement for drug recognition training—mainly so police officers can better recognize drivers under the influence.
21
Minimum age for buying, using, and possessing recreational marijuana in Minnesota (and all other recreationally legal states, for that matter.)
