“We’re in a state of ….
“We’re in a state of unregulated chaos. We know that drug dealers don’t check IDs. We know that bud-tenders are required to in legal states. If you want to keep drugs away from children, then you take the chaos element away,” Robinson said. “One of the things that we’ve seen in states that have legalized is that [it] repairs communities that have been most negatively impacted by cannabis prohibition.”
Polling has shown broad public support for marijuana legalization in Wisconsin. An April 2019 Marquette University Law School poll found that 59 percent of voters say the substance should be legalized for recreational purposes while 36 percent say it should not be made legal; 83 percent of voters said marijuana use for medical purposes with a doctor’s prescription should be legal, with 12 percent saying it should not be.
Two Republican lawmakers proposed legislation in March that would significantly reduce the state penalty for possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana.
Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Lake Hallie, and Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, noted in a memo to fellow lawmakers that Assembly Bill 130 and Senate Bill 164 wouldn’t legalize marijuana, which is still illegal at the federal level.
It would reduce the current $1,000 state fine to a $100 forfeiture for possessing or attempting to possess up to 10 grams of marijuana. It also would eliminate the up to six-month prison sentence only with the increased penalty in current law for a second or subsequent violation involving up to 10 grams.
If approved, the bill would both change the current state penalties for marijuana possession and supersede smaller fines now enforced in some municipalities. The Assembly and Senate received fiscal estimates for the bills, and neither bill has been scheduled for a public hearing.
The bill currently has four co-sponsors in the Assembly including Robert Brooks, R-Saukville; Joel Kitchens, RSturgeon Bay; David Bowen, D-Milwaukee, and Nick Milroy, D-South Range. There are currently no co-sponsors in the Senate.
Agard, a longtime advocate of legalizing recreational and medicinal marijuana use, has argued that the substance might be legalized nationally first by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. “We’re an island of prohibition,” said Agard. “[It] did not work with alcohol and it will not work with cannabis.’’
The Capitol Report is written by editorial staff at WisPolitics.com, a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics, and is distributed for publication by members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
