Minnesota sets home limit at 2 pounds

Weeks ago, Minnesota legalized cannabis for adult use while setting the home limit at 32 ounces, or 2 pounds.

Of the 23 states that have legalized cannabis for adult use, the personal home limit is 1 to 10 ounces — with the exception of one state, Minnesota, where the personal limit for cannabis is 32 ounces, or 2 pounds . But given the federal limit of four plants for home growing, some people say even 2 pounds isn’t enough.

Minnesota allows adults to have up to 2 pounds of cannabis in their home without requiring a cultivation license. However, once they leave the house, they are only allowed to carry 2 ounces of cannabis in public.

Some states — including California, Washington, and Nevada — allow one ounce of cannabis in the home. Colorado sets the limit at 2 ounces. Michigan, Rhode Island and Massachusetts allow a lot more at 10 ounces.

“The vast majority of states that allow adult cultivation don’t have explicit restrictions,” says Morgan Fox, policy director of NORML. “And most of them specifically say you can keep whatever you grow in your own home. Besides Minnesota, there are four states that have actually set limits. Massachusetts is 10 ounces, Michigan is 10 ounces, Oregon is 8 ounces, and New York is 5 pounds.”

“If you put a limit on that, I think it’s a good idea to put it on the higher end of the spectrum and possible, so you can avoid potential criminalization of people who grow their own medicines or cannabis for their own purposes, but who try not to transfer it to others, you know, they don’t try to give it away, much less sell it.”

Fox continued: “But they also don’t want to be arrested for overstepping the line a little bit based on their crop. And in many of these states, once you’re past adult use, the ownership limit applies, whether it’s out on the street or at home. In some cases it’s back to pre-prohibition times, criminal sanctions and in some cases criminal offenses where pounds are involved. You know, I think it’s a really good idea to keep the possession limit or home production limit as high as possible, if you want to limit it at all, just to avoid recriminalizing home cultivators.”

Minnesota lawmakers said they would set high limits to simplify the program and allow the same limits to grow and take hold.

Senator Lindsey Port led the state Senate’s version of the adult cannabis use bill and supports the state’s personal limit. “We wanted to decriminalize as much as we could, but we also wanted to make sure we could control the illicit market,” Port told CBS News affiliate WCCO News. “We wanted to make sure you could own as much as you can grow.”

“We looked at other states and realized that it’s not so much how much you can own that could actually perpetuate the illicit market,” Port said.

Is the limit high enough?

However, local business owners in the area said they expect 99% of consumers in the state will not have a need for 2 pounds of cannabis at home, and if they do, they are likely to sell it illegally.

Despite the higher limit, industry insiders say it falls short of the state limit of four plants for home growing.

The Minnesota Hemp Growers Cooperative wrote in a letter to the committee that the state’s cannabis law allows individuals to have up to four mature cannabis plants at a time, potentially yielding more weed than the 2-pound individual possession limit.

“With the right growing techniques, you could harvest well over 6 pounds of material from four plants,” wrote Shawn Weber, president of the Minnesota Hemp Growers Cooperative. “On what planet does that even make sense?”

We’re paving the way for the adult market in Minnesota

On May 30, Governor Tim Walz signed Minnesota’s adult-use cannabis bill into law, officially making Minnesota the 23rd state in the country to legalize recreational cannabis.

At the signing ceremony, Walz recognized that a ban won’t work and said that he and his colleagues want to start the process of disqualifying Minnesotans who qualify. Walz also pointed out that adults should be able to make their own choices “within those kinds of choices.”

In addition, the bill legalizes possession of up to two pounds of cannabis in a private home and limits home cultivation by adults over the age of 21. In public, Minnesota adults are allowed to have up to two ounces. The legislation allows adults to grow up to eight cannabis plants at home, including four mature flowering plants.

Beginning August 1, possession will be officially legal for adults 21 and older in the state.