Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar sign on to effort to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level | MinnPost

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : That puts marijuana on the same level as heroin and ecstasy.
51% : States that have legalized marijuana have seen a burgeoning market for the drug -- in 2020, legal cannabis sales totaled $20 billion and are projected to more than double by 2025, according to the bill.
50% : Eighteen states, two territories, and the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use.
47% : Possession or sale of more than 42.5 grams of marijuana is a felony under Minnesota law.
45% : If passed, the bill would be following the lead of 27 states and the District of Columbia that have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana.
45% : Even with decriminalization, state criminal justice authorities could still impose civil fines, such as driving while under the influence or using the drug in a public setting.
41% : In states that have already decriminalized or legalized marijuana, the drug's criminal classification at the federal level has had ramifications for marijuana policy -- many state-legal marijuana businesses have to function as cash-only enterprises because banks are nervous about dealing with businesses that are breaking federal law.
38% : Instead, the MORE Act eliminates existing criminal sanctions -- marijuana would remain illegal, but the federal criminal justice system would not prosecute anyone for possession of the drug under the specified amount.
35% : Under the scheduling system, the federal government classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, meaning it's perceived to have no medical value and a high potential for abuse.
33% : While recreational use of marijuana is still illegal in Minnesota, medical use was legalized in 2014, when Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law a bill legalizing the drug for the treatment of nine severe medical conditions.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.