Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly Leader says he plans to introduce a restrictive medical cannabis bill next month. He believes the bill will receive enough support to pass both chambers of Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled legislature by 2024.
In interviews published by local media on Thursday, Assembly speaker Robin Vos (R), said that the long-anticipated bill is almost ready to be released. The legislation was the result of months of intensive internal discussions within the Republican caucus.
He told Wisconsin State Journal that the bill would only allow for limited reforms, allowing serious conditions like cancer, HIV, post-traumatic disorder (PTSD), and chronic pain patients to access cannabis oil and pills.
Vos has not yet released the text of the proposal, but he said that it is being modelled after a conservative law on medical marijuana that Minnesota adopted before adopting broader legalization in this year.
Vos himself has previously set timelines that didn’t materialize, including a goal to introduce the bill by this fall. Vos has set timelines in the past that have not been met, such as a goal of introducing the bill this fall.
Vos told Wisconsin Eye in an that he hoped there was a consensus within his caucus about moving the bill forward. Sometimes it takes a long time to get things done.
He told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the reason for delay was “because we took a long time” to reach a consensus and also because he feared “that Democrats wanted everything or nothing”.
Democratic legislators aren’t ruling out incremental medical cannabis legislation, but they have called for comprehensive legalization. They have also expressed skepticism over the possibility of enacting an extremely restrictive medical program.
When asked about the GOP bill that has yet to be seen, Assembly Minority leader Greta Neubauer said (D) on Thursday that Democrats “hope it’s a proposal that is serious from our colleagues and that addresses the harms caused in the past by criminalizing marijuana and allows real access for those who need it.”
Vos’s expressed concerns about Democratic support also echo comments made by Sen. Mary Felzkowski, (R), who works on separate medical marijuana legislation. She said that Republicans’ efforts on modest reform have been hampered by attempts to push for adult-use cannabis legalization.
Sen. Melissa Agard, who is sponsoring a bill for recreational legalization again in this session has challenged that view, pointing out that the GOP majority set the agenda, and that they could advance medical cannabis reform at any time, but have not done so.
Agard, who recently left his position as Senate Minority Leader to run for Dane County Executive, told Marijuana Moment this week that the “devil is in all of the details when it comes to policy-making” and that “actions speak more loudly than words.”
This follows remarks by Senate Majority leader Devin LeMahieu, who stated this month that there is “potentially a” path to passing a medical cannabis bill in the session of 2024 — but it would have to be limited.
LeMahieu said in a recent interview that there is “a possibility” that medical cannabis will be passed by both chambers of Congress next year. “But I don’t really know,” he added. “It depends on how the bill is written.”
He said that Felzkowski, Vos and others were just working out the details. They had been meeting in order to come up with a consensus. “If they can get on the same page then maybe.”
The Assembly Speaker, on the other hand, said that the bill he plans to file in early January will avoid the perception of legalizing medical marijuana as a sign that “someday, we’ll be able to have recreational”.
He told separately The Associated Press, “It will not be widespread.” We are not going have dispensaries in every city.
He said that it is important to avoid giving people the impression that the medical marijuana reform is a step towards full legalization. This would make Republicans’ attempts to pass incremental reforms more difficult if that perception were to be held.
Vos continued, “I think that the problem in America does not lie with too few people taking drugs.”
The speaker said that while most members with whom he has discussed his proposal are “in principle” on board, he cannot “guarantee any outcome until we have had a larger discussion.”
He said, “I feel good that I think we’re at a point where it can pass through our chamber.”
Agard, who is the sponsor of the bill to legalize adult use, has separately called on the public to pressurize their representatives to hold an hearing about her reform legislation.
Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, has continued to advocate for legalization. He wrote on Monday that Wisconsin is “losing out” to neighboring states that have passed the reform because the GOP legislature was inactive.
Evers said that it was time to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana in Wisconsin, just like we do alcohol. He recently granted a new round of pardons which included dozens for people who had prior marijuana convictions last month.
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Last month, the state Department of Revenue published a fiscal estimate of Agard’s legalization bill’s economic impact. The department projected that this reform would generate approximately $170 million in annual tax revenue.
A legislative analysis, requested by the leader of the minority, estimated that Wisconsin citizens spent over $121 million in Illinois alone in the past year, contributing more than $36 million to tax revenue in the neighboring state.
The conservative legislature, however, has long been resistant to even small reforms – like stripping marijuana proposals out of the Governor’s budget requests.
Bipartisan Wisconsin legislators recently said that they would soon introduce a bill decriminalizing low-level marijuana use within the state. They hope this incremental reform will help break the logjam in cannabis policy.
Separately bipartisan and bicameral Wisconsin legislators have also come together to introduce a law that would establish a pilot program for psilocybin in the state.
DeSantis suggests Florida’s medical marijuana law is used as a ‘pretext’ for recreational use
Photo by Mike Latimer.
The post Top Republican Wisconsin Lawmaker Previews Limited medical marijuana bill He Plans to Unveil Next month appeared initially on Marijuana Moment.
