Tag: Wisconsin

Top Republican Wisconsin senators are already signaling that a newly unveiled bill from their Assembly GOP colleagues to create a strictly limited medical cannabis program may be a “non-starter”—especially as it concerns its novel proposal to have state-run dispensaries that the Senate majority leader is critically comparing to a “DMV for medical marijuana.” Just days after Wisconsin Assembly Republicans held a series of press conferences across the state to announce their much-anticipated plan to legalize medical cannabis, Senate Majority Leader Devin… Read more.

The GOP leader of Wisconsin’s Assembly says a limited medical marijuana bill will be introduced next month—though he expects that lawmakers are “going to have to pass it with just Republican votes” because his Democratic colleagues want broader legalization and aren’t willing to accept the scaled-back reform. In an interview with Spectrum News 1 that was published on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said that it’s “taken us a while to find a consensus on the Assembly Republican side”… Read more.

Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly leader says he now plans to unveil a restrictive medical marijuana bill next month, and he believes it will have enough support to move through both chambers of the GOP-controlled legislature in 2024. In a series of end-of-year interviews with local media outlets that were published on Thursday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said the much-anticipated legislation is nearly ready for prime time—the product of extensive internal talks within the Republican caucus over recent months. As expected,… Read more.

Wisconsin’s top Republican senator says there’s “potentially” a path to pass a medical marijuana bill in the 2024 session—but it’d have to be strictly limited, likely in a way that would face opposition from Democrats, including the governor who is renewing his call to enact a comprehensive recreational legalization law. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) was recently asked about a yet-to-be-seen medical cannabis bill that some of his GOP colleagues have been discussing for months, and he told WTAQ… Read more.

A bipartisan bill in Wisconsin aims to make it easier for researchers to treat patients with acute post-traumatic stress disorder with psilocybin, WPR reports. The measure would create a trust fund called the “medicinal psilocybin treatment program” that would be administered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which launched a center for studying psychedelics to treat PTSD in 2021. State Sen. Jesse James (R), one of the bill’s sponsors, told WPR that the “federal government has failed us when it comes to marijuana and the… Read more.

As marijuana reform continues to stagnate in the Wisconsin legislature, bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers have come together to introduce a new bill that would create a psilocybin research pilot program in the state. Sens. Jesse James (R) and Dianne Hesselbein (D), as well as Reps. Nate Gustafson (R) and Clinton Anderson (D), are sponsoring the legislation, which would focus on exploring the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans. The pilot program… Read more.

Surrounded By Legal Weed, Wisconsin Democrats Urge Change – Why Spend Money In Other States? Wisconsin residents face a dilemma since they live in a state that strictly enforces marijuana prohibition while surrounding areas reap the benefits of legalization. This contrast has prompted Wisconsin Democrats to advocate for change, presenting a basic question: Why should Wisconsinites continue to export their money to other states when their own economy could thrive with a change in cannabis policy? The recent adoption of recreational marijuana… Read more.

A top Wisconsin Republican lawmaker says his party is aiming to file a long-discussed, but as yet unseen, medical marijuana bill this fall. The comment comes as Democrats draw attention to the fact that the state is now an island of prohibition in the region, with one legislator visiting a dispensary and buying cannabis in nearby Michigan over the weekend. As Minnesota’s marijuana legalization law went into effect last week, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said that his caucus “is crafting… Read more.

When the top Wisconsin Democratic senator met with key Biden administration officials at the White House on Thursday, she took the opportunity to discuss marijuana reform issues such as the ongoing review of its federal scheduling status and efforts to repair the harms of cannabis criminalization. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D) and other members of the chamber’s Democratic caucus convened in Washington, D.C. to talk about their legislative priorities and hear from the officials about ways the Biden administration’s… Read more.

The Wisconsin Senate has rejected two amendments to a budget bill that would have legalized marijuana—putting lawmakers on record about the popular voter-supported policy. After Republican senators stripped cannabis provisions from the governor’s budget 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. The standalone marijuana reform amendment… Read more.

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers have removed proposals to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use from the governor’s executive budget for the 2023-2025 biennial. At a hearing of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday, members voted 12-4 to eliminate numerous provisions of Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) budget request, including measures on legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis in the state. The move was expected, as the GOP-controlled legislature has previously stripped marijuana reform language from past executive budgets, and top Republican lawmakers warned that any… Read more.

Wisconsin has a chance to enact a relatively limited medical marijuana law this session, a bipartisan pair of lawmakers said in a joint appearance at a policy event on Friday. Sens. Mary Felzkowski (R) and Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D) spoke during a webinar hosted by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum. The group noted beforehand that a recent analysis it conducted found that more than half of all Wisconsin adults currently live within a 75-minute drive of a legal cannabis shop in… Read more.

According to a recent state estimate, Illinois has collected a whopping $36 million in tax revenue from Wisconsin residents crossing the border to purchase marijuana in Illinois, where cannabis use has been legalized. This astounding number highlights the tremendous effect legalization could have on the state economy and attitudes toward marijuana use. It's important to remember that Wisconsin is one of the few states where lawmakers have not approved the use of marijuana in any way. Contrarily, 37 states currently have medical cannabis… Read more.

Wisconsin residents purchased more than $121 million worth of marijuana from legal retailers in neighboring Illinois in 2022, contributing about $36 million in tax revenue to the state, according to a legislative analysis requested by a top Wisconsin senator. Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard (D), who has sponsored legalization legislation in past sessions, asked the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) to study just how much money was flowing from Wisconsin to Illinois in the form of out-of-state cannabis purchases. LFB… Read more.