LITTLE CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Smith Pharmacy in Little Chute is growing, and set aside some extra room for more than your average prescription.
Owner Nic Smith tells FOX 11 as the pharmacy grows, it needs more room for storage. But he’s also hoping to include a dispensary if medical marijuana is legalized.
“That is the hope. It is far from reality at this point.”
After seeing success with CBD products, he believes people would benefit from the drug.
“CBD is very effective for a lot of conditions, but sometimes the medicinal cannabis or marijuana would be more effective.”
Construction started about four weeks ago, and Smith hopes to wrap up in December. But the extra space isn’t only going to be used for a possible dispensary.
“We’re expanding our compounding services and compounding is making things that might not be commercially available.”
Medical marijuana has to be legal before Smith can get started on a dispensary.
But state lawmakers from both parties say passing it through the Senate will be a an uphill battle.
Democratic State Senator Dave Hansen tells FOX 11 he isn’t optimistic, even though he’d like to see Wisconsin follow its neighboring states.
“Just not going to happen. We’re an island and we can’t even get medical marijuana passed to help people, people with MS, helping people deal with pain in a very less addictive way than opioids.”
Hansen adds that legalizing medical marijuana could lead to passing recreational use.
But that’s why the State Senate’s top Republican says he’s not on board.
Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s office gave FOX 11 this statement.
“Everyone knows that medical marijuana leads to legalized marijuana. We’ve already seen that some states with easier access to marijuana have seen an increase in emergency room visits and impaired driving accidents. I don’t support this plan and I think that it’s going to be a tough sell to a majority of my caucus.”
Meanwhile, Hansen has this message for the Smith Pharmacy and others anticipating legalization.
“I would just say keep plugging away!” the Democratic lawmaker said with enthusiasm. “Vote for the people who will support medical marijuana, and maybe, hopefully, eventually recreational marijuana, like they’ve done in Michigan and all those other states. So don’t ever give up hope, but it may be a little bit down the road yet to see it happen, sadly.”
Several neighboring states have already taken the plunge to medical and recreational marijuana.
