Wisconsin medical cannabis legalization push will fail
Added on 26 January 2024
That means legalizing medical marijuana in Wisconsin will likely have to wait until next year, state Sen. Mary Felzkowski told CBS-58.
With no medical or adult-use cannabis, Wisconsin remains an exception in the Upper Midwest.
Minnesota legalized adult-use marijuana last year.
Adult-use sales launched in Illinois in 2020.
Though Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, says he wants to sign adult-use legalization into law, he’ll settle for medical marijuana – if the Republicans who control both houses of the legislature can pass a bill.
Earlier this year, Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos unveiled a very limited medical marijuana legalization proposal.
With sales allowed at only five state-run dispensaries, Vos’s plan presented minimal business opportunities.
And since Vos refuses to compromise, his plan is also politically untenable, said Felzkowski, a leading Republican advocate for medical cannabis legalization in the Senate.
Felzkowski has introduced more permissive bills in the past that the Assembly has blocked.
As written, Vos’s bill may likely pass the Assembly, but it will fail in the Senate, where lawmakers are uncomfortable with limiting sales to state-run dispensaries, Felzkowski predicted.
“I don’t see anything happening [with the bill] this session,” Felzkowski said, as per CBS-58.
Photo by CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash
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