# Drug Sentencing Reform Agreement *A 2016 agreement on Minnesota drug sentencing signed by the Minnesota County Attorneys Association.* The **Drug Sentencing Reform Agreement** is an agreement on drug sentencing in [[Minnesota]]. The [[Minnesota County Attorneys Association]] (MCAA) signed it on April 29, 2016.[^1] The agreement set three changes. It raised the first-degree sales threshold from 10 to 17 grams. It eliminated mandatory minimums for prior third- through fifth-degree convictions. It made stays of adjudication mandatory for qualifying first-time possession.[^1] The record available to this project summarizes these terms but does not carry the agreement's full text or a primary copy of it.[^1] The agreement appears in the project's at-issue record for the [[Dakota]] package. That record sets the MCAA's signature beside the public record of [[Backstrom]], a [[county attorney]] who twice served as the association's president.[^1] It also sets the signature beside his statements on drug policy at the Minnesota Capitol in January 2019.[^2] ## Who The MCAA is the signatory the record names. It signed on April 29, 2016.[^1] Backstrom twice served as president of the association.[^1] The record does not identify any other signatory. It also does not state who presided over the association on the signing date.[^1] ## What The agreement changed three parts of drug sentencing: - the first-degree sales threshold; - mandatory minimums for prior third- through fifth-degree convictions; - stays of adjudication for qualifying first-time possession. For the first, the threshold was raised. The mandatory minimums were eliminated. The stays were made mandatory.[^1] ## When The MCAA signed the agreement on April 29, 2016.[^1] ## How much The one figure the record gives is the first-degree sales threshold. The agreement raised it from 10 grams to 17 grams.[^1] ## In the at-issue record The at-issue record states that "the association he led signed the reform." It also states that he "spent the next three years campaigning against the premise of it."[^1] Both statements are the record's own summary and characterization. The research dossier on Backstrom documents a statement he made at a news conference at the Minnesota Capitol on January 16, 2019. He called chemical addiction "by far the largest contributor to crime in our society."[^2] He described as a "myth" and a "lie" the claim that prisons are filled with low-level marijuana users. In support, he said that fewer than 0.5% of Minnesota prisoners are held for marijuana offenses and that 70% of those have prior felonies.[^2] The dossier also carries earlier statements on marijuana, from June 21, 2010 and November 20, 2013. Both predate the 2016 signature.[^2] The record shows the association's 2016 signature and these later and earlier statements. It does not show any statement by Backstrom addressing the 2016 agreement's terms directly.[^1][^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *AI-Dakota-018* (Dakota package; drawn from *Backstrom_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02.md* §II), dated April 29, 2016. The record establishes the MCAA's signature on April 29, 2016; the three terms of the agreement; and Backstrom's two terms as MCAA president. The row lists its sources as a biography and a document on the domains assets.senate.mn and ojjdp.ojp.gov, but the pack carries no URL for either. [^2]: Minnesota wiki research dossier, *Backstrom_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02.md* §II.C, "On drugs" (validated). The dossier establishes Backstrom's statements at the Minnesota Capitol news conference of January 16, 2019, and his earlier statements of June 21, 2010 and November 20, 2013. The underlying news URLs are not in the pack's allowed URLs.