SENSIBLE POLICIES. SAFER COMMUNITIES.
We believe our neighborhoods are safer when they are more inclusive. Most Minnesotans have experienced fallout from the war on drugs. From mothers who have lost their children to the opioid epidemic to children growing up with a parent incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses, it is time to implement sensible policies and mitigate the harms of prohibition and the failed policies of the war on drugs.
Our mission is to make Minnesota safer and more inclusive by collectively promoting policy changes that emphasize compassion over isolation, restorative justice over incarceration, and public health over stigma.
2019 in Minnesota
OUR CURRENT INITIATIVES
Safer policies to save lives.
Medical Cannabis Expansion
Opening access and reforming the law to make products more affordable for patients.
Adult Use Legalization
Passing the repeal of state-wide cannabis prohibition through thoughtful policy.
Legalized drug checking
Removing criminal penalties for tools that can save lives.
Medical Cannabis Expansion
Sensible Change Minnesota supports changes to the current medical cannabis program that include:
- Allow patients to purchase cannabis flower through the medical program;
- Provide for medical cannabis delivery for homebound patients;
- Allow reciprocity for patients visiting Minnesota;
- Permit the medical necessity defense for those facing criminal charges for possession, sale, or cultivation of cannabis;
- Protect patients subject to parole, probation, or conditional release under Minnesota law from violations for using medical cannabis;
- Allow schools to dispense medical cannabis as they would other prescription medications;
- Reduce criminal penalties for patient diversion;
- Reconstruct and direct Minnesota’s legislative Task Force on Medical Cannabis Therapeutic Research to focus on patients and patient access;
Legalized Drug Checking
Currently, possession of adulterant screening tools that test the purity and make-up of controlled substances are illegal under Minnesota law. Our team is working to decriminalize possession of fentanyl test strips and reagent kits that test for adulterants in drugs like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and other “street drugs.” This is a lifesaving initiative for substance users and persons in active addiction, and we are hopeful that the 2021-2022 state legislature supports this measure to give harm reduction organizations like Dancesafe and Southside Harm Reduction Services legal protection for utilizing these tools to save lives.
Adult Use Legalization
Adult use legalization is a hot topic in Minnesota right now with numerous bills in the state legislature. Our team prioritizes the following issues in our discussions with policy makers:
- Provide for testing and labeling requirements to promote consumer safety;
- Promote small business growth and economic development for low and middle income communities in urban and rural Minnesota;
- Protect employees, tenants, and parents from unnecessary civil interference for using cannabis;
- Provide meaningful funding to:
- (1) provide grants for legal cannabis business development in low income communities and communities of color disproportionately targeted by cannabis prohibition enforcement
- (2) provide funding for innovative and evidence-based cannabis consumer education, K-12 substance abuse prevention, harm reduction initiatives, and community-based recovery models
- (3) provide grants to law enforcement agencies to promote practices that work toward ending mass incarceration and reduce the criminalization of poverty, mental illness, and drug addiction.
OUR TEAM
We have the experience and expertise to take on the tough issues.
Andrea Devora
Jessica Hauser
Gunnar Aas
Maren Schroeder
Jennifer Christensen
