The Republican leadership of the Wisconsin
\nStatehouse has put a full stop Democratic Gov. Tony Evers\u2019s planned major
\noverhaul of the state\u2019s marijuana law. <\/p>\n
On Thursday, the co-chairs of the Wisconsin Legislature\u2019s Joint Financial Committee Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. John Nygren spoke at a luncheon<\/a> hosted by WisPolitics.com<\/a> where they quickly snuffed out any hopes of major marijuana policy reform this year. <\/p>\n The conversation started around the general expectations for the budget. Twenty minutes into the panel, after talking about big-ticket items for Wisconsin<\/a> like Medicaid expansion and K-12 education, the conversation moved on to criminal justice. That was when the Republican leaders began talking about the marijuana reforms that currently placed in the state\u2019s budget. <\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Evers ran on reducing the prison When asked if marijuana decriminalization \u201cIt will not be in the budget,\u201d Nygren said.<\/p>\n When pushed about whether there would be Darling elaborated: \u201cIf you look at the But Darling\u2019s interpretation of \u201coff-the-wall \u201cJust because it\u2019s fiscal doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s Nygren closed by reemphasizing there are \u201cWhat\u2019s really scary is that there are still high-level officials so committed to depriving sick and dying people of access to medical cannabis.\u201d \u2013 Mason Tvert<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n We asked the Marijuana Policy Project<\/a> for their take on Darling and Nygren\u2019s statements on marijuana reform in Wisconsin. In regards to Darling\u2019s \u201coff-the-wall scary comment\u201d spokesman Mason Tvert, who led Colorado\u2019s successful effort to legalize marijuana for years, said: \u201cWhat\u2019s really scary is that there are still high-level officials so committed to depriving sick and dying people of access to medical cannabis. Marijuana is not only less harmful than many prescription drugs, but also alcohol, a substance these state legislators appear to openly embrace.\u201d <\/p>\n Tvert provided Cannabis Now with evidence that both Nygren<\/a> and Darling<\/a> take money from the beer, wine and liquor industry. \u201cThey should explain why they\u2019re happy to accept campaign contributions from the alcohol industry, but believe adults should face criminal penalties if they make the safer choice to use marijuana instead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n NORML<\/a> said it\u2019s clear that the people of Wisconsin overwhelmingly support marijuana law reform, as 16 counties in the state voted in favor of non-binding marijuana-related referendums<\/a> in the state just last year. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time for lawmakers on both sides of TELL The post Wisconsin Republicans Kill Decrim and Medical Marijuana Reforms Attached to Budget<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Republican leadership of the Wisconsin Statehouse has put a full stop Democratic Gov. Tony Evers\u2019s planned major overhaul of the state\u2019s marijuana law. On Thursday, the co-chairs of the Wisconsin Legislature\u2019s Joint Financial Committee Sen. Alberta Darling and Rep. John Nygren spoke at a luncheon hosted by WisPolitics.com whereContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,94,292,9807,139,81,1786],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34847,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846\/revisions\/34847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npopulation by 50%, I think he made the claim decriminalizing marijuana was
\nenough to do that. It\u2019s not, it\u2019s not even close,\u201d Rep. Nygren told the
\nluncheon. \u201cThere is an opportunity for us to find common ground, but it\u2019s not
\nnecessarily decriminalizing marijuana or things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nbelonged in the budget, the two representatives responded that they would be
\ncutting it out of the final version.<\/p>\n
\nrevenue implications on the budget for the continued policing of cannabis, Nygren
\nresponded again, \u201cIt will not be in the final budget passed.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nresearch on marijuana, decriminalization is one issue. But he [Gov. Evers] is
\ntalking about the manufacturing being made legal, and distribution made legal.
\nWhen you read what he actually has in his budget, it\u2019s really off-the-wall
\nscary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nscary\u201d has been embraced by the states with the most well-conceived marijuana
\nprograms. With no state-to-state cannabis commerce legal under the federal
\ngovernment yet, if medical cannabis were to be legalized in Wisconsin, it must
\nbe produced in-state. Furthermore, the distribution system is where many of the
\nchecks and balances protecting consumers happen, from lab testing to bulk
\nproduct being moved to child-resistant packaging. <\/p>\n
\nappropriate to be in the budget,\u201d Nygren said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m thinking that\u2019s the
\nsubstance, in my opinion, no pun intended. It needs a much larger conversation
\nthan being stuck into a 2000 page document that a legislature can take a pass
\nand be like \u2018I voted for it for all this other stuff.\u2019 I believe if it\u2019s going
\nto happen, I think there are some people that could get there on medical
\nmarijuana \u2014 if it were a true prescription actually prescribed by a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nthings that could get Republicans to support medical marijuana, just not
\nstuffed in a budget proposal. <\/p>\n\n
\nthe aisle to work together in a bipartisan manner and take action on this
\nimportant issue,\u201d said NORML State Policies Coordinator Carly Wolf. \u201cBy failing
\nto include Governor Evers\u2019 reform language in the budget proposal, Republican
\nleaders are continuing to perpetuate the arrests of black and brown
\nWisconsinites at disproportionate rates, and both parties need to take action
\nso that cannabis consumers of all backgrounds are no longer treated like
\ncriminals in Wisconsin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nUS,<\/strong> do you think cannabis should be decriminalized? <\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Wisconsin Republicans Kill Decrim and Medical Marijuana Reforms Attached to Budget<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"