By Jill Fennema –

On July 1, 2022, the Minnesota legislature passed a law that allows Minnesota businesses to sell, and individuals ages 21 and older to purchase, edible and drinkable products containing tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), the primary intoxicant found in cannabis plants.

The products can contain no more than five milligrams of hemp-derived THC per serving and no more than 50 milligrams of THC per package. 

Medical use of marijuana became legal in 2014. It is still illegal to smoke marijuana or cannabis recreationally. 

The passage of the law, which most lawmakers themselves were surprise passed, left many in the state with a lot of questions. One of those questions for law enforcement is how to enforce the laws on the sale of these products and how to keep them out of the hands of minors.

At the Oct. 25 Pipestone County Board meeting, Ann Orren with Southwest Health and Human Services, asked the board to consider signing a resolution that would place a moratorium on the sale of these types of products in Pipestone County. Rock County, the City of Pipestone, and the City of Marshall have already placed one-year moratoriums on the law so that they can put their own ordinances in place regulating how and where these items are sold. 

SWHHS sees the sale of these products as dangerous for youth and would like more time to educate consumers. 

Chief Deputy Mike Hamann explained that the Buffalo Ridge Drug Taskforce will do random checks on businesses that sell these type of products, to make sure they are not selling them to minors. They can also have products tested to make sure they do not have more THC than the law allows. 

However, the state lab does not have time to test the samples that are sent in, so law enforcement has to use private labs. The question then is whether the judicial system will accept lab results from private laboratories. 

County board member Luke Johnson did not like the language of the resolution that Orren brought, which was a copy of the resolution that Rock County passed. He questioned some of the statistics that the resolution presented. 

So after a discussion it was decided that the law liaison committee would meet to discuss the matter and bring it back to the board in a couple of weeks.