In a newspaper op-ed, departing House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler called for the DFL majority to make recreational cannabis legal.
MINNEAPOLIS — He won’t be there in person to cast a vote, but departing House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler predicts 2023 will be the year Minnesota joins 21 other states in legalizing recreational marijuana.
In an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Golden Valley Democrat said the legislature has a big head start on crafting legislation to legalize and regulate the drug. He points out Minnesotans elected pro-cannabis DFL majorities in the House and Senate and re-elected a Democratic governor who has supported legalization.
Rep. Winkler told KARE his op-ed piece was meant to highlight the efforts Democrats had already undertaken across several years to lay the groundwork for legalization.
“I wanted to remind everybody that we’ve gone through a long process of stakeholder involvement, public involvement, getting a real broad sense of what Minnesotans are looking for, for cannabis legalization,” Winkler explained.
“This is not just something the new legislature’s going to throw together quickly. This is the result of a lot of work.”
At the 2019 Minnesota State Fair, Winkler launched…