MADISON, Wis. — Most of us in Wisconsin can agree that bringing more revenue into the state, combatting disproportionate rates of incarceration, and providing relief for the sick are things that our elected officials should be fighting for. But, Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled legislature has yet to unite behind the legislation that could help with all of the above: comprehensive cannabis legalization.
“Another legislative session and state budget season have gone by with Wisconsin Republicans still refusing to pass recreational cannabis legislation supported by an overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites,” said Lucy Ripp, communications director at A Better Wisconsin Together.
Ripp noted that state Republicans have had several chances to join their Democratic colleagues in supporting legislation that would fully legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis similar to alcohol in Wisconsin, but have let it go up in smoke time and time again.
Governor Tony Evers included a plan to legalize and tax marijuana in his most recent state budget proposal, but Republicans promptly removed it from consideration – despite a Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimate that Wisconsin would bring in around $166 million a year if we legalized recreational marijuana, and data showing Black Wisconsinites are over 4 times more likely than white Wisconsinites to be to be arrested for marijuana possession.
“Current marijuana laws in the state, which disproportionately target Black and Brown Wisconsinites, hurt us all,” Ripp went on to say. “Legalizing marijuana, under what Gov. Evers has previously proposed, would not only help ease racial disparities in our state’s incarceration rates but would also mean more money for our schools, our hospitals, our roads, and our environment.”
Call your legislator today at 1-800-362-9472 to demand they come together in a joint effort to support legalized, taxed, and regulated cannabis in Wisconsin.
