Did Democrat Rep Doyle Dump Cannabis Reform

A whole bunch of signature pages were turned in from the La Crosse area. Most of them had been signed at Tree Huggers Co-op. We are training Dillon at Tree Huggers as a field activist and have upcoming meetings and event followed by a concert in La Crosse on Feb 13 where you can come out find out more about anything marijuana reform related in Wisconsin.

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Local favorites TUGG and NATTY NATION are joining forces for their annual birthday celebration tribute to reggae icon Bob Marley with good vibes and irie music. Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 8 PM – 11 PM Cavalier Theater & Lounge 118 5th Ave N, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601 This will be in conjuncture with a free event with live speakers at 6pm from Northern Wisconsin NORML organized by Tree Huggers Co-op including local and state politicians, hemp farmers and producers, CBD researchers, and local vendors presenting information on legalizing cannabis in the state of Wisconsin and to help mobilize for this cause. Tickets available online at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bob-marley-birthday-bash-with-tugg-and-natty-nation-at-cavalier-theater-tickets-90662519035 Speaking event 6pm (free)/Music at 8pm (ticketed) $10 adv / $15 DOS 18+

A post shared by Northern Wisconsin NORML (@northernwinorml) on Jan 25, 2020 at 3:13pm PST

Most of the signatures collected came from Democratic Senator Schilling and Representatives Doyle and Rep. Billings districts, also Democrats. Democratic Senator Jeff Smith has Republican Assembly Rep. Prochinske is his district and a high number of supporters there signed also. As we process the signatures and help train the area activists, we go over which elected officials have sponsored what and we hope you will find it useful also:

Senator Schilling (D) = Medical Marijuana

Senator Smith (D) = Adult Use and Medical Marijuana

Assembly Rep Billings (D) = Decriminalization

Assembly Rep. Doyle (D) = NOTHING

Assembly Rep. Prochinske (R) = NOTHING

*Adult Use = AB 220, Medical Marijuana = AB 570, Decriminalization = SB 577

So in researching this I wondered why Rep. Doyle did not sponsor anything and found a few news article about Rep. Doyle and marijuana reform in his area.

June 2018: Onalaska Assemblyman Steve Doyle doubts that a La Crosse County marijuana referendum would change the minds of any legislative leaders in Madison.

and

July 2018: Doyle previously opposed the marijuana question because he was worried it would distract from the more important question of how to fund upkeep of the county road system. After hearing from a lot of Democrats who wanted him to support the ballot measure, he decided to seek some balance from the other side of the aisle.

He went to the La Crosse County Republican Party Facebook page, where he found a poll posted on marijuana legalization. On that poll, 85 percent supported legalization. While he said he wasn’t taking a position on legalization, he said he wanted to give people a chance to express their opinion.

Assembly Rep. Doyles Spring 2019 Survey is still up on his website also. I am not picking on his office for that, many other of his colleagues have a old survey live also. His 2019 survey did have two marijuana marijuana questions on them:

Do you support legalizing marijuana for strictly medical purposes upon a doctor’s prescription?

 and

Do you support legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes?

If you live in his district I would take the survey! And before the next election I would call him at (608) 266-0631 or mailto:Rep.Doyle@legis.wisconsin.gov and try to figure his stance on marijuana reform and what he is willing to do. In all fairness and to close out the blog, we do believe he supports medical marijuana, as Rep. Doyle was a past co-sponsor of the medical marijuana bill in 2017. We do not know if he supports recreational marijuana, but 63% of La Crosse County supported adult use in the 2018 referendum mentioned. We do not want to distract from the fact that the current medical marijuana bills are stalled out in committee(s), which Rep. Doyle is not a member.

We have shared this information with area activists and now you also. We will follow up with his office for the results of the survey and more info. Thank you for reading. If you found this blog useful, please donate to Northern Wisconsin NORML today.