Minnesota’s legislative committee has approved a proposal that will expand the eligibility of expunging marijuana-related criminal record and for resentencing.
At a Wednesday hearing, lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee approved the proposal. It would permit anyone who has a controlled substance offense of the first through fifth degree related to THC or cannabis to apply for expungement and to resentencing.
The committee members voted in favor of SB 204 on a voice vote, after adopting first an amendment by the author Sen. Lindsey Port(DFL), who wasn’t present during the hearing. Next, it will be brought to the Senate’s floor.
This is a necessary measureClare Oumou Verbeten explained that the Cannabis Expungement Board, which is responsible for reviewing cannabis cases at the felony level, will be empowered to assess matters that “unintentionally” were missed when Minnesota legalized pot for adults in 2030.
Oumou Verbeten explained that due to oversights and court decisions, the Board was not able review the many cases intended by the Legislature. The legislation just tries to solve those problems.
Under state marijuana law, misdemeanors are also eligible for an automatic expungement.
Oumou Verbeten explained that “the amendment captures some cannabis offences that were inadvertently missed during the draft of the original law,” including multi-count and historic cases which are currently not eligible for expungement.
Two top CEB officials testified in favor of the bill, including Mark Haase the board’s general counsel and deputy director.
“What the language in this bill does is—and we’ve worked with court administration to get language that they said works for them administratively—is if the other counts were dismissed, or the other counts are eligible under the automatic cannabis expungement statute for misdemeanors, then we would be able to seal that entire record,” Haase told lawmakers.
Only offenses that did not include dangerous weapons, or harm to others intentionally would be eligible for relief.
SF 204 can be sent straight to the Senate, as some have noted. Its adoption and passage could then take place later this spring. The measure, as written, would be law the day following its final adoption.
Rep. Athena Hollins, DFL, filed HF 1094 as a companion bill in the House.
At a separate hearing held on Wednesday, the panel presented a proposal to repeal Minnesota’s law on illegal drug tax stamps. This bill, SF 209 by Oumou Verbeten will be sent to the Senate Taxes Committee.
This measure will undo a law from the 1980s that required drug dealers to purchase stamps showing payment of tax on illegal substances. These tax stamps generate very little money for the state. The majority of them are bought by collectors.
Sponsors have stated that while the Minnesota County Attorneys Association has not taken a position against the repeal, they have occasionally resorted to the tax stamp laws in prosecuting drug dealers.
Local officials in Minnesota and the cannabis industry are both concerned with details contained in state compacts signed by tribal nations, which could potentially allow them to sell legal marijuana off their reservation.
In a report released earlier in this year on the treatment of chronic pain, it was stated that those who participated in the medical marijuana program in California “feel a significant difference” in terms of pain relief after only a couple months.
A state task force that is responsible for making policy recommendations on psychedelics sent a recent report to legislators last week, calling them to decriminalize personal use amounts of psilocybin mushroom and to establish a program regulated by the state to allow legal access to therapeutic drugs.
Musk’s DOGE Touts the Cancellation by Federal Health Agency of Marijuana Grants
Image courtesy M a N u e L.