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The governor of Wisconsin met with college students on Tuesday, urging supporters to get engaged and vote in the upcoming election, in part to ensure that the state advances marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n
Gov. Tony Evers (D) delivered remarks and held a roundtable discussion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, telling students that \u201cit\u2019s time\u201d to enact the reform\u2014but it\u2019s only achievable if young people make their voices heard at the ballot in November.<\/p>\n
And while Evers was focused on the election that\u2019s coming up in about six weeks, voting could also play a central role in the fight to legalize marijuana in later elections if the legislature approves a resolution he\u2019s now pushing for<\/a> to allow citizens to put initiatives on the ballot.<\/p>\n Speaking with students, the governor also joked about how Illinois\u2019s governor has teased him about generating tax revenue from Wisconsin residents who cross the border to buy marijuana. It\u2019s a point of economic rivalry that the governor has brought up on several occasions<\/a> since the neighboring state enacted legalization.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about this often, because he\u2019s really glad that we have not legalized marijuana, because the taxes that are made in Illinois from legal sales of marijuana helps them out a hell of a lot,\u201d Evers said. \u201cNot that any of you have gone to Illinois to buy marijuana, but I bet you maybe one of you has.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am really tired\u201d of prohibition, the governor said<\/a>, adding that while he\u2019s used his executive authority to grant pardons to people who\u2019ve been convicted of cannabis and completed their sentences, the state needs to move past criminalization altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cThe importance of all this is that we have to make sure that the use of marijuana is not something that gets you into the criminal justice system. So we need to legalize it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Evers can\u2019t unilaterally enact legalization, but he suggested that he would continue to push the lawmakers to pass reform legislation if he\u2019s reelected. The current Republican leadership in the conservative legislature might not be on board, he said, but the governor pointed out that some GOP members do \u201cbelieve it\u2019s time to legalize marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody around us has [legalized]. It\u2019s likely time that we can finally do that here in the state of Wisconsin,\u201d he said at a roundtable with students.<\/p>\n Asked whether legalization would be accompanied by retroactive relief for people with prior cannabis convictions, Evers said that\u2019s an important policy and the administration \u201ccertainly would look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s decriminalized, obviously people that have that record, we might be able to expunge it,\u201d he said. However, he pointed out that expungements might be complicated for those who have cannabis and unrelated convictions on their records.<\/p>\n Beyond the criminal justice aspects of marijuana reform, Evers emphasized to students that implementing a regulated adult-use market for cannabis would create an important revenue stream for the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThe state of Wisconsin is passing up on the revenue, and [in] Illinois, the governor told me that those municipalities that have a dispensary, they\u2019ve been able to not double but triple their revenue for their communities,\u201d he said. \u201cThink about the good things that can happen with that additional revenue. So for all sorts of reasons\u2014we are one of the few states that has not done this. It\u2019s time to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n Evers is also calling on the legislature to pass a joint resolution during a special session he convened that would let citizens put initiatives on the ballot. And while he focused on the need for that reform to protect reproductive rights, advocates say it could also open the door to cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n There are \u201ccountless instances regarding pressing issues of statewide importance to Wisconsin\u201d where the legislature has \u201crepeatedly rejected or altogether refused to consider policies that have broad and bipartisan public support of the people of the state,\u201d Evers\u2019s executive order says.<\/p>\n Marijuana reform certainly fits the bill, as lawmakers have consistently declined to enact legalization despite widespread public support.<\/p>\n For example, a poll released last month found that a solid 69 percent of registered voters in Wisconsin\u00a0believe that cannabis should be legal<\/a>. That includes 81 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of independents and 51 percent of Republicans.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s currently no statewide citizen initiative process for ballot in Wisconsin, activists have successfully put\u00a0non-binding legalization advisory questions<\/a>\u00a0before voters. And at least a half dozen other cities\u00a0will weigh in on the issue this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some state lawmakers have filed bills to\u00a0legalize cannabis for adult use<\/a>\u2014and Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R) has said legalization is\u00a0\u201clikely\u201d to happen at some point<\/a>\u2014but the legislature has so far failed to pass even more\u00a0modest proposals like decriminalization<\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0legalization of medical cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Republicans filed a limited medical cannabis bill this year\u2014and it\u00a0got a hearing on the unofficial marijuana holiday 4\/20<\/a>, but that came too late in the legislative session for lawmakers to actually vote on the measure.<\/p>\n Other GOP members have\u00a0filed bills to more modestly decriminalize marijuana possession<\/a>\u00a0in the state, but none of those proposals advanced during last year\u2019s session.<\/p>\n As it stands, marijuana possession is punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail for a first offense. People convicted of a subsequent offense would face a felony charge punishable by a maximum $10,000 fine and up to three and a half years in prison.<\/p>\n Evers tried to legalize recreational and medical marijuana\u00a0through his proposed state budget last year<\/a>, but a GOP-led legislative committee\u00a0stripped the cannabis language from the legislation<\/a>. Democrats\u00a0tried to add the provisions back<\/a>\u00a0through an amendment, but Republicans blocked the move.<\/p>\n The governor in February also vetoed a GOP-led bill that would have\u00a0significantly ramped up criminal penalties<\/a>\u00a0for people who use butane or similar fuels to extract marijuana.<\/p>\n Evers held a virtual town hall event last year where\u00a0he discussed his cannabis proposal<\/a>, emphasizing that polling demonstrates that Wisconsin residents back the policy change.<\/p>\n And in the interim as lawmakers pursue reform,\u00a0the governor has issued hundreds of pardons<\/a>\u00a0during his years in office, primarily to people convicted of non-violent marijuana or other drug offenses.<\/p>\n New York Gets 900+ Marijuana Dispensary Applications From People Harmed By Drug War<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wisconsin Governor Tells Students That Marijuana Legalization Depends On Their Vote, Says State Is Losing Revenue To Illinois<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of Wisconsin met with college students on Tuesday, urging supporters to get engaged and vote in the upcoming election, in part to ensure that the state advances marijuana legalization. Gov. Tony Evers (D) delivered remarks and held a roundtable discussion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, telling students thatContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57285,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57284"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57286,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57284\/revisions\/57286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Wisconsin Governor Tells Students That Marijuana Legalization Depends On Their Vote, Says State Is Losing Revenue To Illinois<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"