Get Active Subscribe Support Us

STATE LAWMAKERS NEED TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL CANNABIS

Two freshman Republican lawmakers from Fond du Lac, Sen.  Rick Gudex and Rep.  Jeremy Thiesfeldt, sponsored legislation that would find more ways to punish Wisconsinites and state visitors caught with small amounts of pot.

SB 150 and AB 164 allow municipalities to prosecute marijuana cases the local district attorney has determined are not worth prosecution.

There have been committee hearings in both houses with state medical cannabis and marijuana reform groups testifying against.  The Assembly committee vote was 5-3 in favor on a party-line vote.

In the Senate, the vote was 4-1 in favor, with Sen.  Julie Lassa, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, inexplicably joining Republican Sens.  Gudex, Joe Liebham and Jerry Petrowski in voting to send SB 150 to the full Senate.  Only Sen.  Lena Taylor, who spoke strongly against it at the hearing, voted no.

In 2010, Sen.  Lassa helped kill the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act in committee by teaming with Republicans, destroying a golden opportunity to help suffering Wisconsinites and create new jobs.

Each day more citizens leave Wisconsin because they see no future in a state that has turned so backward.  Wisconsin voters need to make a pledge today to stop voting for politicians who want to lock citizens up for pot.

- -- Gary Storck, co-founder, Is My Medicine Legal YET?, Madison