Last week I was predicting that the passing of the legal weed bill in Minnesota was probably a given in the Minnesota House but the Republican Senate would most likely kill the bill or not even bring it up for a vote.

International Cannabis And Hemp Expo Held In San Francisco
Justen Sullicvan/Getty Images
loading...

Well, that may not be the case after all.  Maybe watching conservative South Dakota pass a recreational marijuana bill has some Minnesota senators taking a closer look at the benefits a legal pot law.

The bill is expected to pass the Democratic Minnesota House this week. Even House Republicans seem to be coming around on the issue. Yesterday on WCCO Sunday Morning, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who pretty much has been the lead on legalization, had this to say,

“By involving so many people, by listening to concerns and by trying to address those concerns … we’ve built a lot of support,” Winkler said in an interview. “First among Democrats in the House and now increasingly with Republicans in the House — so far four Republicans have voted for the bill in committee and I expect to pick up more as we move to final passage in the House.”

Get our free mobile app

According to Leili Fatehi, campaign manager at Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation, one of the things that is keeping Republicans in the Minnesota Senate from favoring the legalization is that third-party candidates siphoned off votes from Democratic Senate candidates allowing Republicans to maintain control of the State Senate.

“I think after this year, after (the proposal) making it off the House floor, Minnesotans are really ready for legalization and now they have something to look to in terms of differentiating between which legislators voted for the bill and which ones stood in opposition,” she said. “It’s going to be of major electoral consequence.”

If the State Senate fails to pass this bill, then there is always the route other states have taken. That would be statewide ballot initiatives or referendums posed to voters.

One way or another we are going have legal recreational pot in Minnesota, Cripes, it's 2021, lets put an end to this ridiculous prohibition of marijuana.

(wcco)

Did you know these celebrities were born in Minnesota?

 

More From KQCL Power 96