Images by Caitlin Abrams (THC gummies); Tony Gale/Alamy (Marty Balin); Brian Cursey/Alamy (Twins fan); courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society (Hasheesh Eater, train, Wendell Anderson); Shutterstock (medical marijuana, record, plant)
Collage of images
1880
The Hasheesh Eater
Twenty years after Fitz Hugh Ludlow scandalized the bourgeoisie with his novel The Hasheesh Eater, The Minneapolis Journal publishes a lurid account of an anonymous local doctor who claims to have treated a lady hasheesh eater right here in the Twin Cities.
1903
A train car
Railroad magnate James J. Hill attempts to use his Great Northern line to reroute the Manila hemp trade. Instead of going through the Suez Canal to New York, bales arrive in Seattle and are taken by train overland to Chicago.
1917
To free the domestic market from the rising prices of a hemp trade dominated by the Mexican trusts, U of M botanist John A. Wilson urges Hennepin Country farmers to devote acreage to the plant.
1939
Marijuana plant
Spurred by racist reports from the Mexican border as well as conspiracy theories born out of anti-Chinese prejudice, Minnesota passes the India Hemp Act. All varieties of Cannabis sativa are banned, and the state Department of Agriculture is tasked with eradicating the plant.
1943
The Japanese navy cuts off hemp imports from Manila during WWII, forcing the U.S. government to goose the gone-fallow domestic hemp crop. Minnesota farmers grow “hemp for victory.”
1964
When the Beatles meet him in their NYC hotel room, Bob Dylan suggests they do a j. The Fab Four are down but admit they’ve never smoked. “But what about your song...‘When I touch you…I get high’?” Dylan wonders. He’d misheard the lyrics to “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
1970
Marty Balin
Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin is arrested at a Bloomington hotel for possession of weed and contributing to the delinquency of minors. He eventually gets away with a $100 fine.
1972
Governor Wendell Anderson
Gov. Wendell Anderson signs a bill partially decriminalizing marijuana possession, reducing it from a felony to a gross misdemeanor. A year later, possession of anything less than 1.5 ounces is reduced to a misdemeanor. Iniquitous enforcement remains a problem.
1980
A bill is proposed that would allow the commissioner of health to appropriate $100,000 for a study of whether cannabis can alleviate the effects of chemotherapy. The appropriation is vetoed by Gov. Al Quie.
1982
The Replacements EP STINK on vinyl
The Replacements follow up their debut with a quickie EP called Stink, including the track “Dope Smokin’ Moron.” The chorus: “Dope smokin’ moron, don’t make me yawn.”
1987
When law enforcement agents raid a Minnesota farm north of New York Mills, they recover 40 tons of marijuana with a street value of $40 million. The arrests eventually lead to the disruption of a multinational Kentucky-based weed-trafficking group known as the Cornbread Mafia.
1998
Consistently antidrug (at least publicly) for the majority of his recording career, on his 21st album, The Truth, Prince drops “Don’t Play Me.” He sings, “Don’t play me/I’m over 30 and I don’t smoke weed.”
2009
Medical marijuana
A limited medical marijuana bill—lawmakers reduce approved conditions to “terminal illness” in an attempt to avoid a Gov. Tim Pawlenty veto—passes both the Minnesota House and Senate. Pawlenty vetoes it anyway.
2013
Young MN Twins fan
Twins fans are treated to songs by Marijuana Deathsquads in between innings of a packed game against the Yankees at Target Field. However, ’Squads is re-billed as “The Music Rockers” for the family-friendly performance.
2014
Eschewing the usual public ceremony, Gov. Mark Dayton nevertheless signs one of the most conservative medical marijuana bills in the country. No plants, only oils and liquids, and only nine approved conditions, ranging from cancer to AIDS to Crohn’s disease.
2019
With a newly robust hemp crop (thanks to a federal bill decriminalizing the plant), state lawmakers legalize cannabidiol, or CBD, a “therapeutic” chemical derived from hemp or marijuana.
2022
A pack of edibles
The legislature inadvertently legalizes consumables containing delta-9 THC, the psychotropic chemical derived from hemp, in a bill that at least one Minnesota Republican admits he didn’t even read before voting for it.
