On the same day Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers\u00a0narrowly defeated his predecessor \u2014 union-busting, ham-sandwich eating Republican Scott Walker, who was oh so briefly considered president material \u2014 Wisconsin voters sent a louder and far more bipartisan message: Whomever becomes governor\u00a0should really, really legalize cannabis.<\/p>\n
On Election Day 2018, nearly one million voters answered \u201cyes\u201d to nonbinding referendums that asked if marijuana should be legal for either medical or recreational purposes, as the\u00a0Wisconsin State Journal observed<\/a>. Republican or Democrat, in big cities and in Republican counties, voters overwhelmingly passed the referendums.<\/p>\n More than 81 percent of voters said medical cannabis should be legal, and on the question of recreational marijuana, the margin of victory for legalization was nearly two-to-one.<\/p>\n But unlike nearly every other state where adults can now visit a licensed dispensary or possess marijuana without fear of receiving a ticket or a court summons, Wisconsin has no ballot-initiative process, meaning it\u2019s all up to the elected representatives.<\/p>\n And to his credit, Evers appears willing to listen to what the voters, both his and Walker\u2019s, are saying. Evers plans to include a proposal to legalize medical marijuana when he releases his budget proposal later this month,\u00a0Wisconsin Public Radio reported<\/a>\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe and I know the people of Wisconsin overwhelmingly believe that people shouldn\u2019t be treated like criminals for accessing medicine that can change or maybe even save their lives,\u201d Evers said at a press conference, according to WPR.\u00a0Per WPR\u2019s description of Evers\u2019s plan, which would need approval from state lawmakers, individuals with authorization from a physician would be \u201cable to use marijuana to treat medical conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n Exactly which conditions, or from where they\u2019d obtain the marijuana (from a state-licensed dispensary, from a caregiver, from Weedmaps?) wasn\u2019t made clear.<\/p>\n So there\u2019s obviously quite a lot that needs to happen before Wisconsin residents can access cannabis. But as Oklahoma recently demonstrated, even a red state can move from total prohibition to\u00a0some semblance<\/a>\u00a0of a workable medical marijuana program.<\/p>\n Evers\u2019s move also follows a pattern set by governors in other states that do not have the voter-initiative process, including New York and New Jersey.<\/p>\n In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has floated legalization as a way to raise enough tax revenue for such\u00a0necessary improvements<\/a>\u00a0as an overhaul of the New York City subway. And in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy promised to legalize marijuana while on the campaign trail, though he\u2019s yet to quite agree on a timeline or a plan with leaders in the Legislature. However, very significantly, Evers\u2019s proposal has both criminal-justice reform and racial equity addressed as well.<\/p>\n If Evers\u2019s plan is approved, arrests for anyone possessing less than 25 grams of cannabis in Wisconsin would end immediately. There would also be procedures to expunge old criminal records for marijuana \u201ccrimes\u201d involving that amount or less.<\/p>\n Evers\u2019s plan would also allow anyone to possess or buy\u00a0CBD oil<\/a>\u00a0without a prescription. Since CBD oil can be derived from\u00a0hemp<\/a>, which is now legal in all 50 states, that\u2019s reasonable but not guaranteed, even after President Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill into law.<\/p>\n Though some state interest groups like a top business organization came out against the plan, arguing (without basis) that legalization would make workplaces less safe, there\u2019s reason to think it will pass. Even Republican leaders like state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos are\u00a0paying attention<\/a>\u00a0to Evers\u2019s marijuana plan, which is smart\u2014 because like Evers himself, marijuana is more popular among voters than they are.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, does your state have a medical marijuana program?<\/p>\n The post Wisconsin Governor Pledges to Legalize Medical Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On the same day Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers\u00a0narrowly defeated his predecessor \u2014 union-busting, ham-sandwich eating Republican Scott Walker, who was oh so briefly considered president material \u2014 Wisconsin voters sent a louder and far more bipartisan message: Whomever becomes governor\u00a0should really, really legalize cannabis. On Election Day 2018, nearly oneContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,687,4552,53,139,1786],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33166,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33165\/revisions\/33166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Evers Promises Progress<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Wisconsin Governor Pledges to Legalize Medical Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"