The top Wisconsin Democratic Senator met with Biden administration officials on Thursday at the White House to discuss marijuana reform, including the ongoing review and the efforts to repair harms caused by cannabis criminalization.
Senate Minority leader Melissa Agard (D), other members of the Democratic caucus in the chamber, and officials from the Biden Administration met with the State Department to discuss their legislative priorities, and to hear how the Biden policy is helping the state.
Agard, a Wisconsin marijuana legalization advocate who has been outspoken in his support of ending the prohibition on adult-use marijuana, said in a Marijuana Moment phone interview with Marijuana Moment that they “discussed a lot of things, but I always bring up cannabis policies everywhere I go.”
Good morning from the @WhiteHouse
Today, @SenateDemsWI, and I will be meeting with White House officials in order to discuss important topics for Wisconsinites such as child care access, abortion, cannabis, and infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/Tczaz1eSNH
Senator Melissa Agard July 20th, 2023 HTML0
She said, “It’s important that we always talk about what matters most to our constituents.” “And I’ll take advantage of the opportunity when we can get those messages to the top of the food chain.”
Agard stated that the conversation around marijuana was limited due to the range of issues that each legislator wanted to bring up. She also said that the points she made were well received, and that the officials in the administration were “doing all we can” regarding marijuana reform on the federal level.
Tom Perez, a senior advisor to President Joe Biden, and director of White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, who served previously as chair of the Democratic National Committee and Secretary of Labor during the Obama administration, took part in the discussion. Mitch Landrieu was also a senior Biden advisor. He served as the mayor of New Orleans and the lieutenant governor in Louisiana.
Agard stated that “I felt that their response to me ultimately was, ‘we listen to you’ — and that the people I spoke to seemed to agree that we needed to make changes.” “But, but…that review is still ongoing and they are waiting for this information to figure out how that will look and what their next steps might be.”
I am proud to represent the 69% of Wisconsinites who support #cannabis Legalization.
https://t.co/4bc8eKIZvX
Senator Melissa Agard
The secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , who spoke to Marijuana Moment in October, said that the agencies were aiming to finish the process by the end of this year.
Agard stated that the White House officials also “encouraged us to reach out and share with our members of Congress the importance we place on this issue and continue to keep up the pressure.”
“I believe that Congress is in a pretty bad state right now. “I think that Congress is pretty broken right now.
The minority leader in Wisconsin understands this frustration, because Republican legislators have for years resisted even modest reforms to cannabis laws, despite Wisconsin voters’ support for legalization.
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Last month, the Wisconsin Senate rejected 2 amendments to a Budget Bill which would have legalized pot. One of these was led by Agard. This puts lawmakers on record regarding this popular policy.
In May, after Republican senators removed cannabis provisions from the Governor’s Budget, the Minority Leader gave the entire chamber the chance to pass the reform. One omnibus measure would have restored a number of administrative priorities, including marijuana legalization, and another clean measure focusing exclusively on cannabis legalization.
It’s not surprising that the GOP controls the legislature, but this is the first time voters can get a sense of how all their senators feel about the issue.
Agard, , who spoke to Marijuana Moment in May regarding the challenges of advancing marijuana reform in Wisconsin amid GOP opposition said it is “so crucial that people reach out and share with their elected officials why a ‘no’ vote when it comes cannabis policy in Wisconsin in Wisconsin is harmful, and how this impacts them personally.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Last month, Tony Evers (D), , signed a bill containing a controversial provision that blocks local governments from putting non-binding questions on ballots. This policy has been used for years to show widespread support for marijuana legalization.
The legislation is primarily focused on revenue-sharing and increasing funding to localities. However, the removal of the advisory questions may threaten the democratic process which allows voters in the state tell their legislators where they stand regarding cannabis legalization.
In just three counties and five cities voters approved referendums expressing support for legalizing cannabis. This reform is also supported by the Governor but has been consistently blocked under GOP leadership at Madison.
Separately the Republican Speaker of the Assembly announced last month that the caucus intends to introduce a medical cannabis bill by this summer. He stressed that the bill would be different from any other medical cannabis laws in the nation, and that it would be highly restrictive.
The reported efforts of GOP colleagues in advancing medical cannabis reform have been skepticism among Democratic lawmakers. Evers and Agard are among those who have been pushing for comprehensive cannabis legalization. However, the conservative legislature has not yet advanced on this issue.
The Governor said in January he believes Republicans will introduce medical marijuana legislation this session . He committed to signing the law as long as it is not “flawed”, with too many restrictions.
On this issue, the governor has had a strained working relationship with the GOP majority. The leadership has criticised Evers for including adult-use legalization as part of recent budget requests. The Assembly Speaker warned this year, that including such a broad reform would jeopardize discussions on medical marijuana legislation.
He did it regardless–and in May the Republicans responded in kind by removing both recreational and medical marijuana language from budget proposals, along with thousands of other policy items.
The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, at the request of the Senate Minority Leader, conducted a study in March that showed that Wisconsin residents would purchase more than $121,000,000 worth of marijuana in Illinois retailers by 2022. This will generate about $36,000,000 in state tax revenue.
In a separate report, published in February by Wisconsin Policy Forum, 50 percent of adults aged 21 or older in Wisconsin live within 75 miles of an out-of state cannabis retailer such as Illinois or Michigan. This percentage is likely to rise when Minnesota’s cannabis market opens.
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The article White House Officials discuss marijuana reform with top Wisconsin Senate Democrat first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
