Photo by Darin Kamnetz
I’ll admit it: Cannabis captivates me. It also concerns me. There are so many aspects to marijuana use and regulation that elicit strong feelings on all sides, and they are top of mind right now as our state legislature considers legalizing recreational marijuana. Passage of the nearly 300-page bill looks likely before the session ends in May, followed by an interim period before regulation goes into effect.
We’ve heard some of this discussion before and recognize that Minnesota did legalize low-level THC and CBD products for adults last year—but that was a surprise move to many, and its implications are still being sorted out. More than a decade ago, the debate focused on legalizing medicinal marijuana use in Minnesota, an experiment many consider successful.
Most of us are somewhat familiar with weed—if only tangentially—as parents, friends, and neighbors of marijuana users, and for the most part have likely formed our views on cannabis through those experiences. My own adult children now live in areas where both medicinal and recreational marijuana use is legal—Montana and Manitoba—and they’ve shared their thoughts about accessibility, usage, and prevalence in those places.
But what does it mean for Minnesotans?
We set out to answer those questions with our cover story by digging into the bill making its way through the lawmaking process. Admittedly, we wanted to be careful with the story—and our subsequent cover image—to not glorify or demonize the drug, but rather to present a balanced view. We wondered if the topic would still be timely when this issue arrives in homes and hits newsstands. And we wanted to make it comprehensive enough, so our audience understands the main facts of this complicated issue, one that both captivates and concerns.
Read the story, “Minnesota Faces Several Cannabis Questions,” here.
