What About the Minnesota Pot Primary?
We are watching both Republican and Democratic primaries in a special election in Minnesota 1st District, but if you look at the full list of people running in that district you’ll notice there are also candidates from not one, but TWO cannabis legalization parties. Why? Well, this is partly because Minnesota is a little weird with its weed laws. On paper, Minnesota looks like it’s on the more liberal end — with decriminalization and a medical marijuana program. In practice, medical marijuana here is not the same as in other states. Only two companies are authorized to produce medical cannabis, and it’s legal to treat just 13 conditions with it. It can also be really hard to find a prescribing doctor. Venice Beach this ain’t, let’s just say.
But there’s also a pretty wild history of the Republican party in Minnesota using cannabis legalization parties as political spoilers. In the 2018 midterm, both the Grassroots Legalize Cannabis party and the Legal Marijuana Now party earned enough votes to earn major party status. So people could run for these parties’ nominations without needing a bunch of signatures to get on the ballot. In 2020, suddenly, there were candidates whose personal websites sported MAGA accoutrement and at least two cases of people being encouraged to run (and even financially supported) by the representatives of the state GOP.
This year, the pot parties vowed to stamp out conservative infiltration with more careful reviews of potential candidates. And, yes, the two candidates running in the 1st District both seem like they’ve been at least reasonably vetted. Richard B. Reisdorf from Legal Marijuana Now is a longtime Green Party member, while Haroun McClellan of Grassroots Legalize Cannabis says that, after pot legalization, his second biggest issue is strengthening the Voting Rights Act.