Wisconsin Needs To Get With The Times!
hey you... you like barns? I got yer barn right here, pal
But the times to which I'm referring aren't even that great to begin with. What am I talking about? What else? WEED! Legal weed, to be precise.
Wisconsin's neighbor to the west, Minnesota, legalized medical marijuana. Sort of, anyway. Citizens there who have recommendations from doctors can legally possess up to a 30-day supply of non-smokable marijuana. Essentially anything but the natural plant. Dumb, right?
Well, it's better than what Wisconsin has. Wisconsin has no laws at the state level protecting its citizens against the prohibition of cannabis, for medical use or otherwise.
Wisconsin's neighbor to the south, Illinois, has it a little better. The Land of Lincoln passed medical cannabis in 2013. They actually allow people to consume the natural plant, too! What a crazy idea! Patients in Illinois can possess two and a half ounces of cannabis every 2 weeks, which is a somewhat realistic limit, although I question why there's a need for any limit at all. Citizens of Illinois are still breaking the law if they grow cannabis plants, though.
Wisconsin lags behind... for the most part.
There have been some smaller scale, more localized legalization efforts in America's Dairyland. Monona, a city near the state capitol of Madison (which also decriminalized possession of cannabis), passed an ordinance in 2017 which removed all municipal fines for the private possession and consumption of cannabis. While persons 21 years of age and older (but not all adults) are now exempt from a fine for possession of the herb, a $200 fine can still be given to anyone caught smoking it in public. What makes this stand out to me is the fact that Monona has a population of only around 8,000.
It makes sense to not allow people to consume cannabis in public, though. We wouldn't want them causing a ruckus or being irresponsible. Alcohol is legal precisely because it never causes people to act out, right?
State Street INSANITY - Wisconsin Badgers go to the Final Four!
Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee, has also lowered fines for possession of cannabis.
The state laws are pretty insane, though. See for yourself:
SOURCE: NORML
It's not all GLOOM AND DOOM
While Wisconsin has unfortunately been stuck with Governor Scott Walker since 2010, there's an election coming up this year, and some of his potential opponents support the legalization of cannabis. Matt Flynn, the former chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, is one of the top contenders to be Walker's opponent at the polls. Unlike Walker, Flynn not only supports the legalization of cannabis, but also said he would pardon people convicted of nonviolent possession charges. He would not pardon people who are convicted for selling drugs, though.
2018 is going to be one hell of a ride, I think, but I don't expect to hear much good news about cannabis legalization in Wisconsin this year, but there's at least a chance they could be headed that way at some point soon, if the election in the fall doesn't go in Walker's favor.
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