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During an inaugural address on Tuesday, the governor of Wisconsin reaffirmed his commitment to advancing marijuana reform in the new session.<\/p>\n
After being sworn in for his second term, Gov. Tony Evers (D) listed a number of policy priorities, including for the state to have a \u201cmeaningful conversation about treating marijuana much like we do alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we can\u2019t do it alone. Together we will,\u201d the governor, who has repeatedly advocated for adult-use cannabis legalization, said.<\/p>\n
\nEvers has recognized that the conservative legislature is more likely to find bipartisan agreement on a relatively limited reform such as medical marijuana than to fully legalize recreational cannabis, but he\u2019s still expected to include both policy proposals in his forthcoming executive budget proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said last month that if the governor followed through on including recreational legalization in his budget, that could jeopardize lawmakers\u2019 efforts to find cross-party consensus on medical cannabis.<\/p>\n The speaker, who has previously expressed openness to medical cannabis legalization, said Evers shouldn\u2019t be \u201cpitching the farthest extreme position\u201d if he wants to get some kind of reform enacted in the 2023 session.<\/p>\n In its budget request that was unveiled last month, the state Department of Revenue (DOR) called on the governor to put legalization in his executive proposal<\/a>. The State Public Defender (SDP) is separately seeking decriminalization of cannabis possession.<\/p>\n \u2014 The governor\u00a0included recreational and medical marijuana legalization in his 2021 budget<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0decriminalization and medical cannabis in his 2019 proposal<\/a>, but the GOP-controlled legislature has blocked the reforms.<\/p>\n Some state lawmakers have also 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 Ahead of the November election, Evers met with college students and\u00a0urged supporters to get engaged and vote<\/a>, in part to ensure that the state advances marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n If Democrats had won enough seats, it could have also set them up to\u00a0pass a resolution that the governor recently introduced<\/a>\u00a0to allow citizens to put initiatives on the ballot. Advocates expressed hope that the move could open the door to finally letting voters decide on marijuana legalization, but it\u2019s unlikely that GOP lawmakers will go along with it.<\/p>\n But voters across the state have been\u00a0making their voices heard on cannabis reform<\/a>\u00a0over the past several election cycles. Most recently, voters in three counties and five municipalities across the state\u00a0approved non-binding advisory questions<\/a>\u00a0on their local ballots in support of legalization.<\/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 A statewide 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 Republicans filed a limited medical cannabis bill last year\u2014and it got 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.<\/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 The governor vetoed a GOP-led bill last year that would have significantly ramped up criminal penalties<\/a>\u00a0for people who use butane or similar fuels to extract marijuana.<\/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 White House Highlights Police Concerns About Marijuana Legalization In New Report To Congress<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wisconsin Governor Calls For \u2018Meaningful Conversation\u2019 On Legalizing Marijuana In Inaugural Address<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
During an inaugural address on Tuesday, the governor of Wisconsin reaffirmed his commitment to advancing marijuana reform in the new session. After being sworn in for his second term, Gov. Tony Evers (D) listed a number of policy priorities, including for the state to have a \u201cmeaningful conversation about treatingContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":60234,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60233"}],"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=60233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60235,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60233\/revisions\/60235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Wisconsin Governor Calls For \u2018Meaningful Conversation\u2019 On Legalizing Marijuana In Inaugural Address<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"