Earlier this year, the Minnesota legislature amended the existing definition of hemp, thus altering the legal status of hemp-derived CBD products. CBD products include oils, topicals, and edibles and are highly available not only in Minnesota but across the US. Read More...

Minnesota, like much of the rest of the country, has set its maximum blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at .08 for a DWI. Because it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle if any amount of alcohol has impaired the driver’s abilities regardless of said driver’s BAC, in some cases, drivers may still be charged with drunk driving even if their BAC is under the legal limit. Read More...

What happens if a DWI suspect submits to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test but that test is completed several hours after arrest? Whereas Minnesota law criminalizes a motorist who is driving with a BAC of .08 or more at the time of driving—”or as measured within two hours of the time of driving, operating, or being in physical control” of a vehicle—it is still possible to obtain a conviction if the test was conducted after this two hour window. Read More...

Recently, in Jensen v. State Commissioner of Public Safety, the Minnesota Court of Appeals was tasked with answering the question of whether the district court erred by denying the petitioner’s petition to reinstate her driver’s license in light of the fact that the deputy who arrested her failed to warn her that test refusal is a crime. Read More...

Effective as of August 1, 2019—alongside the state’s new hands-free cellphone law—is the state’s new slowpoke left lane law. This law authorizes police officers to issue citations for motorists who refuse to change lanes to yield to faster-moving vehicles. Thus, if a motorist is slowing up the left lane, then s/he can be cited. Whereas Minnesota already has laws on the books that require slower vehicles to yield to faster ones by merging right, effective August 2019, drivers could be fined for impeding traffic in the fast lane. Read More...

Last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that motorists who are suspected of DWI are not constitutionally entitled to consult with an attorney if law enforcement has a search warrant for a blood sample. Read More...

Effective August 1, 2019, Minnesota’s became the 17^th state to enact its new hands-free cell phone law. While texting while driving was already illegal in the state, this new law prohibits even holding a cell phone while driving and gives law enforcement the freedom to stop anyone who is seen driving while holding a phone. Read More...

Effective July 1, 2019, Minnesota’s new DWI vehicle forfeiture law (Sec. 4, Subd. 13) went into effect and now favors vehicle owners. This law is a game changer in the current forfeiture climate in that drivers will be able to get their vehicles back if they agree to install an ignition interlock device (IID) on their vehicle before the forfeiture procedure is finalized. Read More...

Drug-free zone laws are among the longest running sentencing policies in the US. These laws were enacted during the early 1980s as part of the “War on Drugs” during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic and were designed to increase penalties on those offenders who committed drug crimes in areas near children-heavy areas. Read More...

Drug laws encompass many illicit activities: possession, manufacture, sale, trafficking, distribution, and transportation and are based on the type and quantity of drug. Despite prescription drugs being generally legal, there is a fine line as to when these drugs are handled illicitly. Read More...