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Wisconsin voters in three counties and five municipalities across the state made their voices heard on marijuana legalization on Tuesday through non-binding advisory questions on their local ballots.<\/p>\n
A total of nine local reform measures qualified for the ballot across the right jurisdictions this cycle, and every one was approved by a wide margin.<\/p>\n
Gov. Tony Evers (D), who was reelected on Tuesday, is pushing lawmakers to pass legislation to allow citizens to put policy reform measures on the statewide ballot<\/a>, but currently there\u2019s no means of doing that, so activists have focused their efforts on individual localities in the meantime.<\/p>\n Across several past election cycles, advocates have\u00a0successfully placed cannabis advisory questions on local Wisconsin ballots<\/a>. This year was no different.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the text of the local ballot questions<\/a> that were before voters this year:<\/strong><\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Dane County<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould marijuana be legalized, taxed, and regulated in the same manner as alcohol for adults 21 years of age or older?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Dane County<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould all records of previous convictions for marijuana possession in small amounts in the State of Wisconsin be expunged?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Eau Claire County<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould cannabis be legalized for adult use by Wisconsin residents at least 21 years of age, and in addition, be taxed and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol possession and use?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Milwaukee County<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cDo you favor allowing adults 21 years of age and older to engage in the personal use of marijuana, while also regulating commercial marijuana-related activities, and imposing a tax on the sale of marijuana?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Appleton<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould marijuana be legalized for use by those 21 and over, taxed, and regulated like alcohol in the State of Wisconsin?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Kenosha<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould marijuana be legalized for adult use, taxed, and regulated like alcohol?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Racine<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould marijuana be legalized for adult-use, taxed, and regulated like alcohol?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Stevens Point<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould marijuana be legalized for adult-use, taxed, and regulated like alcohol in the State of Wisconsin?\u201d<\/p>\n APPROVED\u2014Superior<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cShould marijuana be legalized for adults over the age of 21, taxed, and regulated like alcohol?\u201d<\/p>\n In Dane County, voters previously approved a series of medical and adult-use legalization questions in 2010, 2014 and 2018 with support ranging from 64.5 percent to 76.4 percent.<\/p>\n In addition to being polled about legalization again this Election Day, Dane County voters also saw a second measure that asked whether people previously convicted for simple cannabis possession should have those records expunged. That was also approved.<\/p>\n Milwaukee County, the largest county by population in the state, also approved a prior legalization advisory question in 2018.<\/p>\n The local votes are largely meant to serve a messaging purpose, providing lawmakers with a clear policy temperature-check among their constituents. But those that were approved will not change any laws by themselves.<\/p>\n Evers recently told college students that he felt \u201cit\u2019s time\u201d for the state to legalize marijuana, and he encouraged them to make their votes count in the midterm election to see to that goal.<\/p>\n Voting could play a central role in the fight to legalize cannabis in later elections if the legislature approves\u00a0a resolution he\u2019s now pushing for<\/a>\u00a0to allow citizens to put initiatives on the ballot.<\/p>\n The governor 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 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 that called lawmakers into a special session to consider the initiative idea 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 in August 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 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 Meanwhile, voters in several states\u00a0decided on statewide marijuana legalization ballot initiatives<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Ohio Voters Approve Marijuana Decriminalization Ballot Measures In Five Cities<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wisconsin Voters Approve Marijuana Ballot Questions In Cities And Counties Across The State<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin voters in three counties and five municipalities across the state made their voices heard on marijuana legalization on Tuesday through non-binding advisory questions on their local ballots. A total of nine local reform measures qualified for the ballot across the right jurisdictions this cycle, and every one was approvedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57914,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57913"}],"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=57913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57915,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57913\/revisions\/57915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Wisconsin Voters Approve Marijuana Ballot Questions In Cities And Counties Across The State<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"