Walz was cannabis leader in Congress

When former Representative Tim Walz was running for governor in 2017 legal cannabis was a favorite topic in Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary. In 2020 the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 or MORE Act would have removed cannabis from Schedule 1 but legalization remained in the hands of the states. The bill's lead sponsor in the Senate was Vice President-elect Senator Kamala Harris.

Tim Walz, the second-term Minnesota governor with a folksy demeanor and a swath of experience inside and out of government, gained a spot on the Democratic ticket as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential choice. [Kamala Harris taps Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Democratic running mate]

As of May, 2024 forty seven Native cannabis retailers are operating fifty seven stores in nine states for a gain of some thirty percent since January, 2023. Nations in Minnesota and New York lead non-tribal retail growth in those states but in California and Michigan the industry is reaching full flower very quickly, too. In Minnesota, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is constructing a 50,000-square-foot cultivation facility that will dwarf any state-licensed operations which are capped at 30,000 square feet. 

Minnesota US Senator Tina Smith is a leader in the call to have cannabis completely descheduled and is signatory in a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Ann Milgram.

Read that here.