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The Democratic governor of Wisconsin says he\u2019s \u201cconfident\u201d that lawmakers in the state\u2019s Republican-led legislature will produce a passable, bipartisan medical marijuana legalization bill this session, and that he\u2019s ready to sign such a measure\u2014as long as the majority party doesn\u2019t come up with a \u201cflawed\u201d plan that\u2019s overly restrictive.<\/p>\n
In a pair of new interviews, Gov. Tony Evers (D) reacted to remarks from Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R), who said last week that Republicans are \u201cgetting pretty close on medical marijuana,\u201d<\/a> keeping the door open for reform this session.<\/p>\n While Evers plans to continue pushing for comprehensive reform that includes legalizing cannabis for adult use, he told WISN 12 News\u2019s UPFRONT on Sunday that he\u2019d sign medical marijuana legislation in the interim if it doesn\u2019t contain problematic provisions.<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to both leaders about marijuana in general\u2014but yes, if a medicinal marijuana law came to my desk and it was in good shape and it wasn\u2019t flawed in any way, I certainly will\u201d sign it, he said<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve supported medicinal marijuana since I\u2019ve been governor.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about what he\u2019d consider to be flawed legislation, Evers said one of his main concerns is \u201chow restrictive it would be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems to me it should be pretty straightforward, so we\u2019ll see what it looks like, but I feel confident that they\u2019ll come up with a bill that I can sign,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) has also talked about his interest in advancing medical cannabis reform<\/a>, though he did signal that he\u2019d want a fairly limited proposal that focuses on patients with a specific set of conditions, particularly those where marijuana could be used as an opioid alternative.<\/p>\n Evers separately talked about moving the issue forward in an interview<\/a> with Newsradio 620 WTMJ that aired on Friday. He said that it was \u201cgood to hear\u201d that the Senate majority leader was open to passing medical cannabis legalization, describing it as a \u201cstep in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to the governor discuss legislative marijuana reform efforts below, starting at around 6:00:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u201cI believe that recreational marijuana is where we will end up at some point in time, but if medicinal marijuana legislation comes through, I certainly will support it,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n One way that Evers plans to keep up momentum on the issue is through his forthcoming budget request. He\u2019s likely to include language on both medical and recreational cannabis legalization in his proposal, despite the Assembly speaker previously saying that could compromise bipartisan talks on medical marijuana reform.<\/p>\n Evers, who stressed in his inaugural address last week<\/a> that the state needs to have a \u201cmeaningful conversation about treating marijuana much like we do alcohol,\u201d\u00a0included adult-use and medical marijuana legalization in his 2021 budget<\/a> and\u00a0 decriminalization and medical cannabis in his 2019 proposal<\/a>, but the GOP-controlled legislature has blocked the reforms.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 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 Some state lawmakers have also filed bills to\u00a0legalize cannabis for adult use<\/a>\u2014and former Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R) has said legalization is \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 Meanwhile, 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\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.<\/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\u00a0significantly 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 Minnesota\u2019s Governor Wants People To Sign A Marijuana Petition Asking Lawmakers To Put Legalization On His Desk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wisconsin\u2019s Governor Is Ready To Sign A GOP-Led Medical Marijuana Bill If It\u2019s Not \u2018Flawed\u2019 With Excessive Restrictions<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Democratic governor of Wisconsin says he\u2019s \u201cconfident\u201d that lawmakers in the state\u2019s Republican-led legislature will produce a passable, bipartisan medical marijuana legalization bill this session, and that he\u2019s ready to sign such a measure\u2014as long as the majority party doesn\u2019t come up with a \u201cflawed\u201d plan that\u2019s overly restrictive.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":60472,"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\/60471"}],"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=60471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60473,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60471\/revisions\/60473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Wisconsin\u2019s Governor Is Ready To Sign A GOP-Led Medical Marijuana Bill If It\u2019s Not \u2018Flawed\u2019 With Excessive Restrictions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"