Legislature discusses legalization of recreational marijuana early in session

MCKINLEY GARNER THE RUBICON

The legality of medical and recreational cannabis has been a pressing issue for Minnesotan citizens long before to the Minnesota midterm election on Nov. 8.

According to a State Fair poll from the summer, 61.4% of participating Minnesotans want there to be complete legalization of recreational cannabis.

Freshman Ella England thinks that legalization for medical use but not recreational use is the way to stay. “It’s one more thing for people to get addicted to,” England said.

Senior Rio Cox believes that “people should not be criminalized for marijuana usage in general… A lot less people would be dying from cannabis being laced, which would outweigh all possible downsides.”

The Current Bill

MN LEGISLATIVE SESSION 2023 the amount of recreational marijuana an individual could legally carry. 2 oz number of plants a person could grow in their home or on their property. 8 would carry a retail tax of 8% in addition to sales tax, with medical cannabis exempted.

A number of candidates ran with a position on marijuana on their platform and HF-100 was one first bills that hit the House of Representatives when the session started Jan. 3. The bill headed to the House committees Jan. 11.

Since 2014, under Minnesota state law, people aged 18 and up can receive a prescription for cannabis for a number of reasons, including ALS, chronic pain, PTSD, and OCD.

As far as recreational cannabis usage, citizens aged 21 and older can purchase and consume cannabis with restrictions, such as only hemp-derived THC being allowed, only five milligrams of THC allowed in edibles, only being allowed to have two fully grown plants and only being allowed to possess two ounces or less of flower in public spaces. This use was approved in July 2022 and caused a great deal of controversy, continued from pg. 1

After Mercedes Yarbrough shared her comic and passion for teaching, Roberts discussed what led her to become an artist and musician, tracing back to her high school athletic career.

Roberts was a driven basketball player and had been scouted by many colleges beginning in eighth and ninth grade. Unfortunately, Roberts tore her ACL during high school, putting her basketball career on pause. However, she took this as an opportunity to try something new and after going to a cable access center, she discovered her passion for video and photography and began to experiment with her creativity.

After recovering from her ACL injury, Roberts had to make a life-changing decision. “Am I going to play basketball, or am I going to stick to photography? Surprisingly, I decided to stick with video photography,” she said.

Ebony Yarbrough then introduced herself using a childhood story about finding her confidence in her sense of fashion. Ebony Yarbrough had a shy personality as a child. After discovering her unique talent and fashion interest, she gained confidence in school. Her creativity inspired her peers, and that’s when she started making clothes for people.

“It is necessary to legalize [cannabis] because probation has never worked,” Minnesota State House Majority Leader Jamie Long said in an interview with The Rubicon

Long mentioned that legalizing cannabis would fix many racial issues attached to the current cannabis legislation.

“Despite different racial groups using it at the same rate, Black Minnesotans are seven times as likely to be arrested for use,” he said, implying that with a lack of equal enforcement, “it has been legal for White people for a while.”

Long said in a new bill that he is co-authoring, there are programs that would make reparations to the people who were mistreat-ed by this legislation in the past by getting rid of any minor marijuana-related criminal records, helping to level the playing field.

Opposing arguments have historically made the legalization of cannabis difficult. Many states that have legalized marijuana have much higher rates of accidental child consumption of edibles.

Legislators are also considering how increased rates of driving under the influence will be managed, as states that have legalized use have seen. There is also currently no field sobriety test for cannabis.

As far as addiction, though, Long mentioned that if full legalization similar to that of California was to be put into place, the tax dollars from cannabis purchasing would go directly to expanding access to high-quality treatment plans.

A third Minnesota House Committee approved the bill, with amendments, Jan. 24. It moves on to the next of 13 committees before a floor vote.

“I expected that I would open this business and everybody will want to come and take a [look]. But that wasn’t the outcome. I got so discouraged. I gave up. Then one day, I was just sitting there and thinking, ‘I can’t believe I gave up. But now I’m going to try again.’ I learned to put my personal meanings into play. I had to tell myself, ‘You get what you get and what you put into it,” Ebony Yarbrough said.

Each speaker’s adventurous entrepreneurial story emphasized the idea of never giving up. This message resonated with many students and caused them to reflect on their own dreams and notions of success.

“I think success can come in many different ways and be defined differently. A lot of the time, it’s about finding your own passion. It’s not necessarily becoming a big STEM entrepreneur in Silicon Valley or becoming like Taylor Swift as a singer. But if you’re able to get your message, and you share your values with other people, I count that as successful,” sophomore Deling Chen said.

This year, the Intercultural Club leaders aimed to celebrate Black successes during the annual assembly. The group aims to uplift local voices and bring engaging speakers into future events.

“Intercultural Club is trying to bring in speakers that are more youth-oriented and have a strong emphasis on working with younger generations and changing the future. We wanted to find something both educational and entertaining that everyone would enjoy,” IC co-President Clea Gaïtas Sur said.

While the Q&A section was cut short due to time constraints, the assembly was lively and engaging, including a live performance from Roberts and a “Pringles challenge,” using chips named after famous Black rappers. This assembly marked a new way of celebrating This assembly marked a new way of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy.

Read more in News about the MLK Day of Service and the SDLC assembly at:

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EDITORIAL THE RUBICON STAFF

of the staff agree 100%

It’s easy to treat school as a world on its own, separate from everything that goes on outside campus—but is that really alright? Although teachers occasionally contextualize certain lessons with references to current events, the talk inside the classroom rarely brings in anything from outside the curriculum. But school is part of the larger world, and it’s the responsibility of students and teachers to bring current events into the classes, hallways, and social spaces of campus.

Teens need to be aware of what’s going on in the world. They’re aging into a political scene that’s set amidst the backdrop of worsening climate change and widespread social movements. However, according to Statista, when teens do read the news, they overwhelmingly pick social media as their platform of choice. In order for teens to effectively participate in politics and the world, they need a more thorough understanding of current events than can be obtained through Instagram news infographics.

In fact, Instagram has a longstanding problem with misinformation, with over 620 thousand users following anti-vaccine accounts between July and August 2020—the largest increase of any other major social media platform. Instagram’s user base also skews heavily towards the younger side, with the vast majority of their users between the ages of 18 and 34. Both of these facts together point to the worrying conclusion that teens are at a high risk of consuming dangerous misinformation. However, discussing news in school gives students the opportunity to share, and subsequently debunk, any false information they might receive from social media.

Bringing news into the classroom helps class content feel more relevant, too. How often have students complained about never using what they learn in the “real world?” By integrating time for conversation based on current events, especially when those events also connect to the class, teachers and students alike can alleviate feelings of academic detachment. Plus, most people have major news on their minds, so discussing them and connecting them to class can help people stay more engaged. And students who see themselves in the stories can feel more seen by their community.

As a school, discussions can come from all sources. Clubs and groups, especially ones that advocate for social or environmental justice, can bring and discuss news articles in their meetings. The Opinion Board, as well, is a forum specifically for sharing opinions to the whole school. If students posted articles they found interesting, or their thoughts on a current election, conversations would naturally begin to flow.

On an individual level, schedule 10-15 minutes every day to read a news source. How to begin? The answer might be as simple as opening up the computer. All students have a free subscription to the New York Times and the Star Tribune that they can redeem through their school Gmail accounts. If they haven’t already started using it, now’s the time to ask a librarian to help them begin. And once these accounts are up and running, use them. Stay informed—sign up for a newsletter if checking the website every day isn’t your style. And bring this newfound consciousness to class, where it certainly won’t go unnoticed.