MADISON: The River Falls Journal is reporting that City Clerk Lu Ann Hecht confirmed she had received the petition several days prior to the 60-day deadline and that it had the more than the required number of signatures.
The Journal says Hecht has forwarded the petition to the city attorney for interpretation who will determine if it warrants a direct-legislation referendum or an advisory referendum. Next, the City Council will decide whether to add the question to the ballot or not. Referendum campaign organizer Robert Hughes is a River Falls City Council member.
Rivers Falls appears to poised become the second Wisconsin locality where voters will get to register opinions on a state medical marijuana law as they vote for Governor, Attorney General, state and federal lawmakers and other candidates on Nov. 2. Dane County became the first when the County Board unanimously passed a resolution placing the referendum on the Nov. 2 ballot at their July 15 meeting.
The referendum question is, "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?"
State activists had laid out plans at a May 15 meeting in Tomah to attempt to get the question placed on more state ballots, but a short time frame and other factors led to a much shorter list. Signature campaigns were launched in La Crosse and Milton Wisconsin, but had to be abandoned. Hoped for campaigns in Lodi, Rio, Mondovi, Viroqua, Whitewater and other cities never got off the ground due to various factors.
One of these factors was definitely fear. Wisconsin remains a marijuana prohibition occupied territory and some potential signers did not want their names connected to marijuana for just an advisory referendum. Had the petitions been to legalize medical cannabis or, as California is doing this fall, to legalize cannabis for adult use, then people would likely have been more enthusiastic. But, Wisconsin's Constitution comes up short in allowing citizens to take to the ballot when their lawmakers fail them over and over and over and over again.
Nevertheless, the referendum votes in Dane and hopefully River Falls will demonstrate not just the depth of support state residents have for medical marijuana legalization but their overall fatigue with the government's ludicrous obsession with prohibiting a plant, particularly at a time of broken budgets and in the face of numerous pressing crises locally, nationally and globally.
For more info: Dane County Medical Marijuana Referendum: www.jrmma.org. 06/24/10: Gary Storck OPED: Isthmus: Rejection of Wisconsin medical marijuana bill was a profile in cowardice. This Oct. 1-3, 2010: Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival. Madison NORML Examiner: Jacki Rickert MMJ Act 2010 runs out of time in Wisconsin Legislature. For additional details on medical cannabis and Wisconsin visit JRMMA.org, IMMLY.org, Wisconsin NORML or MadisonNORML.org. Visit my Madison NORML Examiner articles archive. Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org. All rights reserved. Madison NORML Examiner is dedicated to the memory of Mary Powers (1949-2009).
Comments
its needs to be legal and taxed instead of making drug dealers rich it could save AMERICA and make new jobs
, every one is bitching about the economy it is the fastest way to fix it
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