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The GOP leader of Wisconsin\u2019s Assembly says a limited medical marijuana bill will be introduced next month\u2014though he expects that lawmakers are \u201cgoing to have to pass it with just Republican votes\u201d because his Democratic colleagues want broader legalization and aren\u2019t willing to accept the scaled-back reform.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Spectrum News 1 that was published on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said that it\u2019s \u201ctaken us a while to find a consensus on the Assembly Republican side\u201d to craft a passable medical cannabis bill. But he\u2019s \u201cpretty confident\u201d the votes will be there, even without Democratic support.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will come out in January. The sad thing is, I think most of my Democratic colleagues, because they only want recreational or nothing, we\u2019re going to have to pass it with just Republican votes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, my goal is I want Democrats to vote for it too, but if they want everything, they usually get nothing,\u201d Vos added<\/a>. \u201cYou got to find that common sense middle ground, so I feel like there\u2019s a whole lot of issues like that.\u201d<\/p>\n While the text of the legislation hasn\u2019t been introduced yet, the speaker recently previewed the proposal, detailing how it will only provide for limited medical cannabis reform<\/a>, allowing patients with serious conditions such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), HIV and chronic pain to access products in pill and oil form.<\/p>\n Vos said it\u2019s being modeled after a conservative medical marijuana law that neighboring Minnesota enacted before adopting more expansive legalization this year.<\/p>\n The GOP leader has previously put forward timelines for the bill\u2019s introduction that didn\u2019t materialize, including an unmet goal to file the legislation by this fall<\/a>. He\u2019s acknowledged that there\u2019s been frustration around the delay, but he said it was necessary to build a large enough coalition to pass the measure within his caucus.<\/p>\n Democratic legislators haven\u2019t necessarily ruled out passing an incremental medical cannabis bill, though they have pushed for comprehensive legalization and voiced skepticism about the prospect of enacting a seriously restrictive medical program.<\/p>\n Asked about the yet-unseen GOP bill, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D) said last week that Democrats \u201chope that it\u2019s a serious proposal from our colleagues that addresses the past harms that have been caused by the criminalization of marijuana and that really allows access for the people who need it.\u201d<\/p>\n Vos\u2019s stated concerns about Democratic buy-in also echoes comments from Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R), who is working on separate medical cannabis legislation and said that efforts to push adult-use legalization have\u00a0complicated Republicans\u2019 work on modest reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sen. Melissa Agard (D), who is\u00a0sponsoring a recreational legalization bill again this session<\/a>, has challenged that position, pointing out throughout the year that the GOP majority sets the agenda and could advance medical marijuana reform at any point but have yet to do so.<\/p>\n Agard, who recently stepped down as Senate minority leader to pursue a run for Dane County executive, told Marijuana Moment last week that \u201cthe devil is in the details with all policy making,\u201d and \u201cactions speak louder than words.\u201d<\/p>\n That followed remarks from Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R), who said this month\u00a0there\u2019s \u201cpotentially\u201d a path to pass a medical marijuana bill in the 2024 session<\/a>\u2014but it\u2019d have to be strictly limited.<\/p>\n \u2014 Agard has separately urged the public to pressure their representatives to hold a hearing on her reform legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gov. Tony Evers (D) has also continued to push for legalization, saying last week that the GOP legislature\u2019s inaction means Wisconsin \u201cis losing out to our neighboring states\u201d that have enacted the reform.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s high time we legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana in Wisconsin much like we do with alcohol,\u201d said Evers, who granted another round of pardons, including dozens issued for people with prior marijuana convictions<\/a>, last month.<\/p>\n The state Department of Revenue released a fiscal estimate of the economic impact of Agard\u2019s legalization bill last month, projecting that\u00a0the reform would generate nearly $170 million annually in tax revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also, a legislative analysis requested by the minority leader estimated that\u00a0Wisconsin residents spent more than $121 million on cannabis in Illinois alone<\/a>\u00a0last year, contributing $36 million in tax revenue to the neighboring state.<\/p>\n Despite all that, the conservative legislature has long resisted even incremental reform\u2014stripping marijuana proposals from the governor\u2019s budget requests<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, bipartisan Wisconsin lawmakers said recently\u00a0they will soon be introducing a bill to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession<\/a>\u00a0in the state\u2014an incremental reform that they hope will break the logjam on cannabis policy.<\/p>\n Separately, bipartisan and bicameral Wisconsin lawmakers have also came together to introduce a bill that would\u00a0create a psilocybin research pilot program in the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n High School Students Say Marijuana Is Harder To Access Following Legalization For Adults, Canadian Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Top GOP Wisconsin Lawmaker Is \u2018Pretty Confident\u2019 Medical Marijuana Bill Will Pass Next Year With \u2018Just Republican Votes\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The GOP leader of Wisconsin\u2019s Assembly says a limited medical marijuana bill will be introduced next month\u2014though he expects that lawmakers are \u201cgoing to have to pass it with just Republican votes\u201d because his Democratic colleagues want broader legalization and aren\u2019t willing to accept the scaled-back reform. In an interviewContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":71236,"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\/71235"}],"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=71235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71237,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71235\/revisions\/71237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Top GOP Wisconsin Lawmaker Is \u2018Pretty Confident\u2019 Medical Marijuana Bill Will Pass Next Year With \u2018Just Republican Votes\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"