Minnesota Rep. Tina Liebling Wants Voters to Decide on Legalization

Rep. Tina Liebling is sponsoring legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota. Adults ages 21 and older would be permitted to grow and buy marijuana for personal use. The representative has spent months putting her legislation together.

Liebling introduced her legislation just before the end of the regular 2017 legislative session, Post Bulletin reports. She detailed how legalization could work in Minnesota. She wants discussions regarding the proposal to take place before the next session.

Liebling said, “The time for this has come. Eight states are already doing this, so it’s no longer a fringe thing that no one can imagine happening. It’s time to get the conversation going.”

Liebling plans to run for Governor of Minnesota in 2018. She details her support for legal marijuana on her campaign website.

The Bureau of Cannabis Oversight would be established if legislation does make it to the voters. Licenses to sell marijuana and marijuana products would be issued. Residents could grow six immature and six mature plants. The medical marijuana program would be left intact. She already has 12 Democratic supporters for her bill.

Representative Greg Davis thinks that Liebling will face resistance from Republicans.

He said, “I have always been adamantly opposed to such a bill. I would fight it very, very hard. I think in states that have done this, it’s been a disaster.”

Liebling did acknowledge that her bill, regardless of its support, won’t get the support it needs to pass in 2018. She is just aiming to get a conversation started. Minnesotans spent about $700-million in the marijuana a black market annually.

One point of her argument is the drop in opioid-related deaths in states where marijuana is legal.

She said, “It’s trying to balance individual liberty with the need to have some consumer protection.”