Among their many successes, or failures depending on your point of view, state lawmakers in Minnesota passed legislation during the recently-completed session on using recreational cannabis. The new law has left cities and counties looking for how to deal with the the idea some may have long considered unthinkable – the recreational use of marijuana is now legal in Minnesota.
The new state law won’t go into effect until August. That’s not enough time for local governments to determine how they will manage the governance of legal sales of cannabis. Since lawmakers began discussing the proposed legalization of recreational use of marijuana, we’ve also heard concern from the law enforcement community on how police officers would determine levels of impairment involving the use of a newly-legalized use of marijuana.
There are plenty of questions to be answered before cannabis sales should commence. The city needs to determine where elected officials want marijuana sold.
Cities like New Prague and Elko New Market, for example, have recently discussed the implementation of a moratorium on how they will govern locally issuing permits to sell marijuana for recreational use. Just as you wouldn’t want a liquor store adjacent to a school, there is no doubt the right and wrong place for where a business selling marijuana for recreational uses ought to be located.
Sadly, the legalization of marijuana for recreational use is part of an expansion of state government. The state appropriated almost $80 million to manage the system for legalization locally and across the state. The state will recover the money via taxes on the product and licenses to grow and sell it.
The legislature did law enforcement no favor by passing this bill this session or allowing the recreational use of marijuana to begin this summer. It’s not as easy as calling police departments in Colorado or other states where the recreational use of marijuana is legal. Police are uncertain how to test for impairment using established standards or measurements acceptable to the county attorney’s office and courts in the state. Police officers, sheriff’s deputies and troopers deserved to be dealt a better hand.
Police need a set of standards for measuring impairment. This was a concern raised loud and clear during the discussion and debate among state lawmakers when considering the bill. At least the legislature limited its legal use to private residences, someone else’s private property with permission or at a businesses or events licensed for on-site use.
Sadly, the concerns of law enforcement, the people we call when things go bad, were not heeded. The idea of a moratorium seems reasonable, likely even wise. And in the end, it will likely create a better set of rules. Unfortunately, a moratorium won’t help New Prague police officers, county sheriff’s deputies and troopers deal with a driver potentially impaired by marijuana.
Cops don’t get to call a time out.
There’s no suggestion here using marijuana recreationally is a bad thing. As adults, we make good choices and accept responsibility. A reasonable person would likely see there is little difference between a person using recreational marijuana and getting behind the wheel or the person having a few beers at the corner bar and driving home. The biggest difference is, really, social acceptance.