(DailyDig.com) – Robin Vos, Assembly Speaker, said that Republicans in Wisconsin will introduce a bill legalizing medicinal marijuana soon, with a potential vote scheduled for 2024.
During a press conference, Vos said that the Republicans would propose a measure legalizing medicinal marijuana in January.
For years, Republicans have been quietly drafting a measure to legalize medicinal marijuana. All the while, they have ignored Democrats’ demands to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, led by Governor Tony Evers.
Vos stated in an interview on December 20 that the idea would be narrowly tailored and draw inspiration from Minnesota’s medicinal marijuana legislation, which was in effect before the state’s complete legalization.
They won’t have dispensaries in every city block, he said, and it won’t be pervasive.
The law took longer to get an agreement on, according to Vos, who previously stated in April that he aimed to have it by the autumn of 2023. He said that Republicans in the Assembly support the idea in theory but have not seen the plan in its current form. He will reveal it in the new year.
Most people agree, he said, but he won’t make any promises until they have a more extensive conversation. His belief is that it may pass through their assembly.
Evers would need to pass it before it could take effect, after it passes both the Assembly and Senate.
Compared to their Assembly counterparts, Republicans in the Senate have shown less support for legalizing marijuana. Devin LeMahieu, Senate Majority Leader, states that a plan to establish a medicinal marijuana program has a chance of passing, provided that restrictions are put in place to limit access to only those experiencing severe suffering.
Despite Vos’s long-standing support for medicinal marijuana programs, no legislation has ever made it past the Republican-controlled Senate or Assembly.
Regardless of the fact that 24 states have legalized recreational marijuana and 38 have legalized medicinal marijuana, Wisconsin continues to be an anomaly on a national level. Legalization efforts in Wisconsin have picked up steam thanks to neighboring states’ relaxed regulations.
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