GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Gov. Tony Evers hosted a live session, discussing his budget Wednesday night. Part of the discussion was on the legalization of marijuana.
While the Governor is pushing for pot to be legal, some lawmakers say they’re not sure now is the time.
“Bottom line is we’ve got a lot to change. We Can’t do things the way we’ve always done them,” said Evers.
The budget includes legalization of marijuana, both medicinally, and recreationally. The Governor and his team would like to regulate the drug similarly to how they regulate alcohol.
“No reason we shouldn’t join the other 17 states in legalizing it,” said Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
The State would also like to create a system to reduce sentencing for those with marijuana related charges.
Marijuana legalization is something Republican State Representative Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers) says he’s generally in support of.
“If it came down to a vote, I would vote for it.”
But, having it included in the budget is where Representative Sortwell tells FOX 11 he sees an issue.
“Not only do we have all these finance decisions which are talking tens of millions, billions of dollars, but now we’re going to throw policy on top of it and I don’t think that’s really a good position for us to be in.”
Instead, he believes the topic of legalizing marijuana deserves to be an outside conversation. Sortwell thinks it could have some support from his GOP colleagues.
“I do anticipate the medical one very least having some traction this fall, and I think we might get some traction on my decriminalization bill. On recreational, I’m sorry it’s a bridge too far for so many of my colleagues and that’s not gonna happen right now.”
In the mean, time Sortwell has a bill looking at decriminalizing marijuana. The proposal would take away criminal penalty for small amounts of possession.
State lawmakers are reviewing the proposed budget. It must be finalized by July 1st.
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