Madison: Medical marijuana has long been an issue in Wisconsin's legislature. A number of legislative hearings on the legalization of medical marijuana have been held over the years, and I have attended four, and submitted testimony at three of those.
On July 31, 1979, as a congenital glaucoma patient and a 24 year old college student, I traveled from my then-Milwaukee residence to Madison to attend a public hearing on the Therapeutic Cannabis Research Act. The first Federal IND patient, Robert Randall, testified about smoking 10 joints per day for glaucoma. The bill was not passed that session, but it came back the next, and was passed by large margins in both houses in 1981 and signed into law by then-Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus in April 1982. However, the law was quickly rendered symbolic when federal authorities refused to supply Wisconsin with their supplies of medical marijuana.
After a long drought, medical cannabis returned to the Wisconsin legislature in the mid-1990's. A number of bills were introduced, all eventually dying in committee, without receiving a hearing. In the 2001 session, then-Rep. Rick Skindrud (R-Mt. Horeb),, a moderate Dane County Republican, convened an informational hearing of his Assembly State Affairs Committee on Tuesday April 10, 2001.
Testimony was limited to invited guests. Among those testifying was IMMLY Founder Jacki Rickert. Jacki led off the hearing discussing her experiences and how medicinal cannabis has benefited her and helped her regain a little quality of life.
Others testifying included Dr. Michael Miller, representing the State Medical Society and speaking in opposition and Gina Dennik-Champion, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Nurses Association, testifying in favor. Also giving testimony were then-Rep. Frank Boyle (D-Superior), a longtime supporter, and then-Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin, a prostate cancer survivor.
Then-Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh) had become interested in medical cannabis in 2003 and announced plans to introduce legislation. As Health Committee chair in 1997, Underheim had refused to hold a Health committee hearing on that session's bill, saying "It's not about medicine, it's about intoxication." That bill was sponsored by Frank Boyle and then-State Rep. Tammy Baldwin, now a U.S. Congressperson representing Madison.
But by 2003, Underheim was a cancer survivor himself. The following session, Underheim convened and chaired a public hearing of his Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, the topic, AB740, his bill to legalize medical cannabis in Wisconsin.
Testimony was heard from IMMLY's Jacki Rickert and Gary Storck, WNA director Dennik-Champion, Federal patient Irv Rosenfeld and others. A number of other Wisconsin patients testified, including the late Mary Powers. A synopsis can be found in a blog post I wrote, "Recap of Nov. 22 Public Hearing for AB-740".
Unfortunately, Rep. Underheim never put AB740 to a committee vote, and patients who traveled long distances in pain and revealed personal medical information to hostile committee members never got the satisfaction of a up and down vote. He did not seek reelection the following term.
The fourth hearing was an informational hearing on Wed. Nov. 14, 2007. Sen. Jon Erpenbach, the Senate lead sponsor of this session's SB368, held a hearing of the Committee on Health, Human Services, Insurance and Job Creation that he chaired. Those invited to testify included IMMLY's Jacki Rickert and Gary Storck, Federal IND patient George McMahon, who flew in by private plane from Iowa, as well as two physicians who are experts in the field of medical cannabis, Dr. David Bearman, Wisconsin native now practicing in Santa Barbara California and Dr. Chris Fichtner, an Illinois doctor with very extensive credentials. Dr. Bearman also held a book signing and spoke at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine while in Madison. The UW Badger Herald covered the hearing with an article, "Senate hearing on medical marijuana turns emotional". The hearing is archived in video at Wisconsin Eye.
Long suffering Wisconsin patients and those who care about them are hoping that the State Capitol's next hearing on medical cannabis on Tuesday Dec. 15 at 10am is the charm, and that their testimony will convince state lawmakers that this session it needs to be, "This bill, this time!" For more information on how you can help pass the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, submit testimony at the hearing, read the bill test or donate, visit JRMMA.org, IMMLY.org or MadisonNORML.org.
Comments
Disgusting! They want the right to deal drugs and rip off sick people with outrageously high priced dope so they entice someone whom is ill and disabled to play on the emotions of State representatives. Watch, every dispensary that opens will be run by criminals and their activities will get more outrageous as they go. Next up medical crack cocaine, Heroin, small-scale prescription drug pill manufacturing in neighborhoods. All of this has been done before by organized crime groups. They will be empowered by these laws.
Wow your extremly ignorant...I wonder if you think the same about cigarettes there run by a criminal organization and are legal they kill millions of people and so does alcohol name one person that has died from cannabis.....go head ill wait.....thank you marijuana is a medicine it should NOT but smoked but made into a pure form of oil and taken as a medicine
FIGURES.... SOUNDS LIKE JOHNNY LAW UP THERE KNOWS A LIL TO MUCH ABOUT RIPPING PEEPS OFF.... THIS ACT SHOULD AND WILL PASS.... THE BENEFITS OF MEDICAL CANNABIS FAR OUTWEIGH THE NEGATIVES THAT SUCH ILL INFORMED PEOPLE SUCH AS JOHNNY LAW KNOW, HAVE U EVER HAD A CHEMO TREATMENT WHERE U CANT EAT FOR DAYS ON END AND CONTINUE TO HAVE SEVERE NAUSEA TO THE POINT OF CONTINUED DRY HEEVES??? WELL, IVE HAD THE CHEMO TREATMENSTS, THE PAIN AND AGONY, THE ISOLATION CUZ YOUR WILL POWER IS BEING SAPPED FROM YOUR SOUL. THEN TO BE PRESCRIBED PILL AFTER PILL WITH SO MANY SIDE EFFECTS, IM SURE YOU MAY HAVE READ ABOUT OXYCOTIN ADDICTION AND SUCH AND IT SCARES ME TO, TO THE POINT OF RISKING MY FREEDOMS FOR MEDICINE THAT SHOULD BE LEGAL. PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL NEEDS FOR CANNABIS ARE NOT DRUGGIES OR ABUSERS, WE JUST WANT TO END SUFFERING AND TRY TO LIVE A LIL BIT MORE NORMAL AND PAIN FREE... SO COME ON WISCONSIN.... DO THE RIGHT THING, LEGALIZE, DONT CRITICIZE....... GO WISCONSIN!!!!
Johnny Law is misinformed, miseducated and misquided no doubt. Anyone could go on and on for pages and actually have information to back up the arguements against everyone of his statements, rather then just "slinging his biased and unsubstantiated allegations". Organizations have spoken to many folks in the various law enforcement agencies, and have received only positive feedback from them, both personally and PROFESSIONALLY and support from all areas of medical marijuana.
Valid medicinal value, it’s a victimless crime, the War on Drugs WAY too costly, too many arrests for simple possession, tax it and use the money to pay for health insurance and to reduce the deficit…Need I say more?
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Johnny Law you are an idiot.
I sure hope those political cronies in Madison listen to the nation as well as the news about how the support for full legalization is growing throughout the country.
Wow your extremly ignorant...I wonder if you think the same about cigarettes there run by a criminal organization and are legal they kill millions of people and so does alcohol name one person that has died from cannabis.....go head ill wait.....thank you marijuana is a medicine it should NOT but smoked but made into a pure form of oil and taken as a medicine
louis
Well your partly correct alcohol does kill lot's of people every year, the study on tobacco in my option is still open, does tobacco kill or is it all the chemicals added to it that is more the cause of the problem?
as for medical marijuana should it be smoked the answer is yes, let me explain, for the most part it should be ingested for the benefits of the cannabinoids three to four times per day, but should also be smoked for breakthrough pain and nausea, the preferred way to smoke it would be with a vaporizer, this does not burn the marijuana it only vaporizes the oils and the rest can be eaten for the cannabinoids, for the medicine to work like a pill it can take up to an hour ingesting it or mere minutes smoking it, if your nauseous from chemo smoking would be the preferred method to start so you could eat and take some orally.
Johnny Law
I'm sure your partly correct, there may be some dispensaries that would break the law, no different than some pharmacy's that have b
Johnny Law
I'm sure your partly correct, there may be some dispensaries that would break the law, no different than some pharmacy's that have broken the law, but we haven't closed down all the pharmacy's because of the few bad ones, nor have we made automobiles illegal because of drunk drivers, You really should re-think your analogy because what your saying is that anytime anyone breaks the law everything in that classification should become illegal.
Johnny Law
I'm sure your partly correct, there may be some dispensaries that would break the law, no different than some pharmacy's that have broken the law, but we haven't closed down all the pharmacy's because of the few bad ones, nor have we made automobiles illegal because of drunk drivers, You really should re-think your analogy because what your saying is that anytime anyone breaks the law everything in that classification should become illegal.
the only way to calm your nerve is to smoke weed to relax.You cannot be over dose smoking weed.weed is just a plant that sometimes use a medicine if a doctor say that weed is no harm to any organs.maybe smoke a blunt a day keep the doctor away.
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