MADISON: July 15 marks the one year anniversary of the Dane County Board's vote to place a medical cannabis advisory referendum on county ballots for the November 2011 general election.
The board unanimously agreed that every Dane County November general election ballot should carry this question, "Should the Wisconsin Legislature enact legislation allowing residents with debilitating medical conditions to acquire and possess marijuana for medical purposes if supported by their physician?"
In Northwest Wisconsin, City of River Falls ballots carried the same question after City alder Bob Hughes went door to door to collect the signatures to place it on the ballot.
Despite low-key campaigns, Dane County and River Falls voters responded with overwhelming support. In River Falls, the referendum passed with 68% of the vote. In Dane County, voters responded with a landslide victory, 75.49% of the vote, 159,408 votes. The referendum outpolled every candidate or referendum in every ward in Dane County with only a couple minor exceptions.
Unfortunately, while voters of all political stripes were saying they wanted state lawmakers to pass a medical cannabis bill, many voters also fell prey to partisan manipulation by Republicans, leading to an entire new political landscape in Wisconsin that did not favor passage of medical cannabis.
Considering the rapid passage of the new extreme GOP agenda by their new majorities this year, one can assume that like other progressive achievements of the last session including publicly-funded Supreme Court elections and early release, that Republicans would have repealed the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act had a majority of last session's lawmakers actually had the courage to pass it. One of Gov. Scott Walker's idols is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has cynically made sure that not a single patient has yet been protected by the medical cannabis law outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine signed in the last minutes of his term in early 2010.
Sadly, while a majority of those who say they vote Republican support legal access to medical cannabis, most Republican politicians are opponents. This year, Republican lawmakers nearly repealed Montana's voter-passed 2005 law. Other GOP governors made threats to repeal laws in Arizona and New Mexico. Wisconsin's current political leadership is highly populated with a host of medical cannabis opponents. First tier opponents include Senators Leah Vukmir, Alberta Darling, Mary Lazich, Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Representatives Scott Suder, Garey Bies and Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen -- all who have publicly opposed medical cannabis.
One thing for sure, in the wake of the political upheaval, there are a lot more activists in Wisconsin, and a majority, of course, want medical cannabis legal here. When the good people of Wisconsin regain control of their government, hopefully medical cannabis will be an early priority.
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