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The Wisconsin Senate has rejected two amendments to a budget bill that would have legalized marijuana\u2014putting lawmakers on record about the popular voter-supported policy.<\/p>\n
After Republican senators stripped cannabis provisions from the governor\u2019s budget<\/a> in committee last month, Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D) gave the full chamber a chance to enact the reform, with one omnibus amendment that would have restored several administrative priorities including marijuana legalization and another clean measure focused exclusively on legalizing cannabis.<\/p>\n The standalone marijuana reform amendment failed on the floor in a party-line vote of 22-11 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that Wisconsin is continuing to be more and more of an island to prohibition in the Midwest,\u201d Agard told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Wednesday. \u201cWe are falling behind in Wisconsin. We are more dangerous because of the prohibition of cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans just rejected #cannabis<\/a> legalization in our state budget. Legalization will generate significant revenue in our state and our communities. While Republicans like to say they are the party of \u201cfiscal responsibility,\u201d rejecting this amendment is fiscally irresponsible. pic.twitter.com\/fMaZkaoY0v<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Melissa Agard \u201cWe\u2019re taking up the state budget today,\u201d she added, and the state is experiencing a \u201creal revenue loss by the fact that we continue to not legalize cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n Prohibition \u201ccontinues to be very harmful to our state. It creates less safety. We are infringing on people\u2019s personal liberties and freedoms\u2014because cannabis consumption is not harmful to the greater community\u00a0 when regulated appropriately\u2014and we\u2019re missing out on a lot of prosperity [and] opportunity, for our main streets and our communities to be able to get ahead. So this is the policy that absolutely does belong in our state budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, no Republicans spoke<\/a> against the amendment<\/a> on the floor prior to voting against it.<\/p>\n The result<\/a> in the GOP-controlled legislature isn\u2019t entirely unexpected, but it does represent the first time that voters will be able to get a clear sense of where all their senators stand on the issue.<\/p>\n Agard,\u00a0who also spoke with Marijuana Moment last month<\/a> about the challenges of advancing cannabis reform amid GOP opposition, said that it\u2019s \u201cso important that people reach out to their elected officials and share with them why a \u2018no\u2019 vote when it comes to cannabis policy in Wisconsin is harmful and how that impacts them personally.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed a large-scale bill last week bill<\/a> contains a controversial provision blocking the ability of local governments to put non-binding advisory questions on the ballot\u2014a policy that\u2019s been used over the years to demonstrate widespread public support for marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n While the legislation is principally focused on revenue sharing and increasing funding for localities, the elimination of the advisory questions could threaten the democratic process that\u2019s empowered voters across the state to tell their lawmakers where they stand on cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n During last year\u2019s election alone, voters in three counties and five municipalities approved referenda voicing support for cannabis legalization<\/a>, which is a reform that\u2019s also backed by the governor but has consistently stalled under GOP leadership in Madison.<\/p>\n Separately, the Republican speaker of the Assembly said this month that his caucus plans to introduce a medical marijuana bill<\/a>\u00a0as early as this summer. But he emphasized that it will be unlike any existing medical cannabis law in the country, strongly signaling that it will be significantly restrictive.<\/p>\n Prohibition has failed, is failing, & will continue to fail until we take action to legalize. Every day that we wait is one more day that we are less safe, less prosperous, & less equitable. It\u2019s not a matter of \u201cif\u201d marijuana will be legalized in Wisconsin but \u201cwhen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Melissa Agard Democratic lawmakers have been skeptical about\u00a0the reported efforts by GOP colleagues<\/a>\u00a0to advance medical cannabis reform in the state. Evers and Agard have been among those who\u2019ve been pushing for comprehensive legalization, but so far cannabis issues have failed to advance in the conservative legislature.<\/p>\n The governor said in January that he does believe Republicans will introduce medical cannabis legislation this session,\u00a0and he committed to signing it into law<\/a>, so long as it\u2019s not \u201cflawed\u201d with too many limitations.<\/p>\n The governor and the GOP majority have had a strained relationship on this issue. Leadership has criticized Evers for putting adult-use legalization in recent budget requests, with the\u00a0Assembly speaker warning this year<\/a>\u00a0that including the broad reform could jeopardize talks on more modest medical marijuana legislation.<\/p>\n He did it anyways\u2014and,\u00a0at a joint committee hearing last month<\/a>, Republicans responded in kind, stripping both recreational and medical cannabis language from the budget proposal, along with hundreds of other policy items.<\/p>\n An update on #cannabis<\/a> in Wisconsin:<\/p>\n A quick reminder that 69% of Wisconsinites support cannabis legalization. #LegalizeIt<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/oSylSOhnkw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Melissa Agard At the Senate minority leader\u2019s request, the state\u2019s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) carried out a study that was released in March showing that Wisconsin residents\u00a0purchased more than $121 million worth of marijuana<\/a>\u00a0from Illinois retailers in 2022, contributing about $36 million in tax revenue to the state.<\/p>\n A separate\u00a0report published by Wisconsin Policy Forum in February found that 50 percent of adults 21 and older in the state live within 75 minutes of an out-of-state cannabis retailer, such as in Illinois or Michigan. That percentage stands to increase when Minnesota\u2019s market eventually comes online.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s President Says Legalizing Medical Marijuana Can Help People Impacted By \u2018Trauma Of War\u2019 With Russia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Wisconsin GOP Senators Defeat Marijuana Legalization Amendment Led By Top Democrat<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin Senate has rejected two amendments to a budget bill that would have legalized marijuana\u2014putting lawmakers on record about the popular voter-supported policy. After Republican senators stripped cannabis provisions from the governor\u2019s budget in committee last month, Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D) gave the full chamber a chanceContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":66272,"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\/66271"}],"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=66271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66273,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66271\/revisions\/66273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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(@SenatorAgard) June 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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(@SenatorAgard) June 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
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(@SenatorAgard) June 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
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\nRead More: Wisconsin GOP Senators Defeat Marijuana Legalization Amendment Led By Top Democrat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"