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The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) is asking the governor to again put recreational and medical marijuana legalization in his forthcoming executive budget, while the State Public Defender (SDP) is separately seeking decriminalization of cannabis possession, according to an overview of state agency budget requests for 2023.<\/p>\n
Gov. Tony Evers (D) has already pledged to put legalization in his upcoming budget<\/a>, despite the GOP-controlled state legislature having repeatedly rejected similar executive requests to create recreational and medical cannabis programs.<\/p>\n According to the new proposal, DOR is seeking the authority to issue retail marijuana permits and levy a 15 percent wholesale and 10 percent retail excise tax on adult-use marijuana sales. The agency estimates such sales would generate annual revenues of $165.8 million for Wisconsin beginning in 2024\u2014money that Democrats complain is lost to the illicit market and legal marijuana programs in neighboring states like Illinois.<\/p>\n DOR is also asking lawmakers to create a medical marijuana registry program through which qualified patients could obtain authorization to purchase cannabis from licensed dispensaries. Patients would not be required to pay taxes on those purchases. DOR\u2019s request stipulated that a qualifying patient should be someone who is at least 18 years old and has been diagnosed by a physician as \u201chaving or undergoing a debilitating medical condition or treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n The agency did not ask for funding or full regulatory responsibility to administer and enforce the medical registry program or the taxation of recreational marijuana, but instead indicated it would \u201clike to collaborate with the Governor and other state agencies about the resources needed to manage the program.\u201d<\/p>\n Evers, who won re-election last month, sought to legalize marijuana in his budget<\/a> last year and campaigned on the issue. His 2019 budget request included decriminalization and medical cannabis legalization<\/a>, but the GOP-controlled legislature has consistently blocked the provisions.<\/p>\n When the governor included cannabis reform in his biennial proposal in 2021, Republicans ultimately stripped it out<\/a>. Democrats\u00a0tried to add the provisions back<\/a> through an amendment, but Republicans blocked the move.<\/p>\n \u2014 In any case, DOR\u2019s latest proposal<\/a>\u00a0signals that the administration is aligned on pursuing the reform again in 2023.<\/p>\n SPD, meanwhile, said in its budget request that, in the interest of reducing the agency\u2019s staffing costs, the governor\u2019s executive budget should propose decriminalize cannabis possession.<\/p>\n It says that cannabis possession should be \u201creclassified as an ordinance violation for first- and second-time offenders and a misdemeanor for third-time offenders, provided that there are no allegations that the individual is manufacturing, distributing, or delivering a controlled substance.\u201d<\/p>\n The office estimates that \u201cthis law change would affect 1,982 cases and reduce SDP costs by $869,000.\u201d<\/p>\n Polling indicates a strong majority of Wisconsin voters support marijuana legalization<\/a> and nine local non-binding advisory questions<\/a> on the subject passed by wide margins in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n Shortly after last month\u2019s election, Evers told reporters at a press conference<\/a> that \u201cat some point in time, the will of the people will become the law of the land.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI sure the hell hope it happens within the next four years because we just can\u2019t, as a state, continue to say, \u2018well, 80 percent of the people want X\u2019 and we try to do X and then nothing happens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In September, Evers signed an executive order urging the legislature to start the process of amending the state Constitution to allow citizens to place initiatives on the ballot<\/a>. The governor said he was taking that step to protect reproductive rights and give voters a necessary tool to repeal antiquated state laws restricting abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Advocates believe the constitutional amendment could also empower citizens to end marijuana prohibition on their own in the face of Republican opposition.<\/p>\n Conservative Wisconsin lawmakers have repeatedly rebuffed attempts to reform the state\u2019s cannabis laws despite a top GOP assemblyman admitting marijuana legalization was essentially an inevitability<\/a>. Last summer, the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee voted against a motion to re-add a medical marijuana program<\/a> to the 2021-2023 budget plan.<\/p>\n Assemblyman Evan Goyke (D) argued at the time that the state was becoming \u201cmore and more of an island\u201d as neighboring states adopt new cannabis laws. He framed the medical marijuana measure as \u201can attempt at compromise\u201d with Republicans who oppose broader adult-use legalization and argued that the \u201csky has not fallen\u201d in other states that have allowed patients to access cannabis.<\/p>\n That same committee scrapped a proposal to legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0a few months before, prompting calls from the governor and other Democratic policymakers to have residents put pressure on their representatives to support the administration\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n Other GOP members have\u00a0filed bills to more modestly decriminalize marijuana possession<\/a> in the state, but none of those proposals advanced during the last 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 Here Are The Biggest Marijuana Reform Victories Of 2022, From Legalization To Workplace Protections<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of <\/em>Philip Steffan.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The post Key Wisconsin Agency Proposes Marijuana Legalization Be Included In Budget, Saying It Will Create $165M In Yearly Revenue<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) is asking the governor to again put recreational and medical marijuana legalization in his forthcoming executive budget, while the State Public Defender (SDP) is separately seeking decriminalization of cannabis possession, according to an overview of state agency budget requests for 2023. Gov. Tony EversContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":540,"featured_media":59265,"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\/59264"}],"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\/540"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59266,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59264\/revisions\/59266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Key Wisconsin Agency Proposes Marijuana Legalization Be Included In Budget, Saying It Will Create 5M In Yearly Revenue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"