GOP Minnesota Governor Nominee Says Voters Should Decide Whether to Legalize Cannabis

Scott Jensen, the Republican nominee for Minnesota’s governorship, said that he supports decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis and letting voters decide whether to adopt legalization reforms.

Full story after the jump.

Scott Jensen, a former Republican Minnesota state senator and current GOP gubernatorial nominee for the state, said last week that he thinks Minnesota should consider decriminalizing “trivial amounts” of cannabis and should let voters decide via the ballot whether to adopt cannabis legalization reforms, Marijuana Moment reports.

Jensen, who sponsored an unsuccessful bipartisan legalization bill in 2019 while serving as a state senator, said in an interview last week that he supported letting voters decide on the issue.

“If we can have a discussion and then put it on the ballot as an amendment, I think that makes a lot of sense.” — Jensen, via an interview in The Star Tribune newsletter

Jensen’s opponent, the incumbent Gov. Tim Walz (D), called in his supplemental budget proposal earlier this year for the state to legalize cannabis and even set aside $25 million to create a Cannabis Management Office to oversee the program.

Last year, the Minnesota House passed a cannabis legalization bill but the GOP-controlled Senate ultimately let the legislation die without being considered on the Senate floor. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R) said, “Making legalized pot for fun, we just don’t think that’s a good idea.”

However, Minnesota lawmakers did approve a bill to legalize small quantities of THC in hemp-derived food and beverage products; Gov. Walz signed that bill into law in June and the new rules took effect on July 4.

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