A year after legalization, where you can and can’t smoke pot in Minnesota is still a little hazy
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Despite being legal for months, it was still kind of surreal to see people openly smoking marijuana in public recently, and smell the pungent clouds surrounding them. A small crowd of smokers at the Northern Haze Festival puffed on bongs and other glass pipes under a tent in a parking lot on a sweaty Duluth Saturday in early July.
Matthew Johnson, a 26-year old retail worker from Duluth who describes himself as an avid marijuana smoker, had come to the event outside a popular brewery to celebrate the nearly one-year anniversary of the legalization of cannabis in Minnesota.
“There’s the older generations and younger generations coming together over something where it means love,” he said, looking around at others partaking underneath the festival’s “consumption tent.”
Vendors weren’t selling cannabis at the event. The state Office of Cannabis Management hasn’t started licensing retailers yet. But it’s been legal to grow, use and possess cannabis since last August. So instead, the festival was BYOC: Bring Your Own Cannabis.
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“For way too many years, you know, our cannabis friends and connoisseurs have been hiding in their basement, in back alleys, some people ashamed of one of the things that they enjoy,” said Josh Wilken-Simon, who organized the festival.
“Now we’re able to throw an event that people can come and be themselves, and most importantly, have a safe place to consume cannabis,” he said.
Events like this one are one of the places spelled out in the law signed by Gov. Tim Walz last August where people can legally smoke marijuana. The legislation also specifies private residences, and private property not accessible to the public — with consent from the owner.
But the legislation is somewhat hazy on where else it’s allowed. That’s partly by design, said State Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, the chief senate author of the cannabis legalization bill.
“We wanted to be sure to really minimize the opportunity for re-criminalization in different ways,” Port said.
Indoor restrictions
In general, Port said, you can’t smoke or vape cannabis anywhere smoking tobacco is banned under the Minnesota Clean Air Act. That includes bars, restaurants, and other public indoor spaces.
Smoking or vaping cannabis is also not allowed in vehicles, — moving or stationary — nor anywhere where children could inhale the smoke or vapor.
It’s also not allowed in multi-family housing — any building with three or more units. Originally that prohibition wasn’t scheduled to go into effect until 2025, but revisions passed during the last legislative session moved up the date to July 1 of this year.
Port said she’s not a fan of that provision. But she said it was required to get the votes needed to pass the legalization bill in the Minnesota Senate.
“It is a frustrating piece to me of what feels like continued criminalization, particularly for lower income people,” Port said.
But Port stressed the ban only applies to vaping and smoking, something that is outlawed in many apartment buildings already. It doesn’t apply to edibles or THC beverages.
It’s also only enforceable by the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, Port said, not local police. And she said the state office will likely never have the capacity to enforce it.
“They’re never going to be an agency that has someone who can come out to an apartment at 11 o’clock at night, because you smell your neighbor smoking pot,” said Port.
Anti-smoking advocates support the ban on smoking cannabis in multi-family housing, although they have concerns about how it will be enforced, said Kara Skahen, a program director for the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota, where she leads smoke-free housing policy initiatives.
“Secondhand cannabis smoke contains a lot of the same harmful chemicals that secondhand tobacco smoke contains,” Skahen said. “Our lungs are intended to inhale oxygen and nothing else.”
The law also allows for private businesses to open indoor spaces where consumption could be allowed, provided they secure the necessary licenses and permits.
“Those won’t just pop up all over the place right away, because I think there will be challenges and expenses for folks that want to open those,” said Port. “But I do think in the long term, those will exist.”
Outdoor use
It is generally legal to consume cannabis In outdoor public spaces — on sidewalks, for example — unless cities or counties pass ordinances restricting it.
“People should be checking what the local ordinances are,” advised Leili Fatehi, partner and principal of Blunt Strategies, a consulting firm that works with cannabis entrepreneurs. She also directed the legalization advocacy group M-N Is Ready.
“They should be cognizant that municipalities may have prohibitions within a certain perimeter of doors, especially of public buildings, and then places like parks,” Fatehi said.
Several cities have moved to ban smoking or vaping cannabis in parks, including St. Paul, which also bans it within 25 feet of the entrances to businesses and indoor public spaces. Duluth’s park ban extends to the city’s popular Lakewalk on Lake Superior, but does not include sidewalks.
So far there haven’t been any citations issued since the ordinance passed last August. Of the 12 cannabis related cases in Duluth since then, seven are for underage use or possession by people under the age of 21. The other cases are for using or possessing cannabis in a vehicle.
If you are headed into the woods to smoke, the cannabis-use rules differ for Minnesota state parks and forests and U.S. Forest service lands.
Cannabis is legal in state parks and campgrounds. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources initially sought the same authority as cities and counties to pass restrictions on its use.
But in the year since it became legal, “It’s been a non-issue,” said Ann Pierce, director of parks and trails with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
“We haven’t gotten complaints. We haven’t seen any issues in the parks where it might be, you know, behavior that you would not want to see,” Pierce said.
Cannabis however is not allowed on federal land, because it remains illegal under federal law. That means it's not allowed in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness or at Forest Service campgrounds.
Superior National Forest Public Affairs Officer Joy VanDrie said the agency doesn't seek to enforce it, but will if a situation requires it.
Still a stigma
At the Northern Haze festival in Duluth, attendees reveled in the fact they could openly smoke cannabis outdoors in public, after years of hiding it.
But while legalization has brought cannabis out into the open, that doesn’t mean people are smoking weed wherever they want.
“It’s not like we're just outside Taco Bell and smoking,” said Kai Beamer, a 33-year old office manager from Duluth. “It’s not like smoking a cigarette, where you can just walk down the street or walk by people and it’s okay. There’s still a lot of stigma around it.”
Beamer said she and her friends only smoke outside bars where they know the owners are okay with it.
Port predicts public consumption will likely increase next year when dispensaries are licensed and the sale of cannabis isn’t limited to tribal lands.
But she said it’s become clear since legalization was passed a year ago that “the sky didn’t fall.”
“It’s not like you’re walking down a street in your neighborhood and walking through clouds of cannabis smoke,” Port said. “That’s just not going to be the reality.”
