MORE ACT: Wisconsin Republicans Just Say NO
The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884 / S. 2227) is bipartisan legislation that removes marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, thus decriminalizing the substance at the federal level and enabling states to set their own policies.
In Wisconsin, the vote for The MORE Act was straight down party lines with Republicans Gallagher, Steil, Grothman, Sensenbrenner and Tiffany all voting NO. Democrats Kind, Moore and Pocan (Co-sponsor) all voted YES.
US Rep Bryan Steil: In a statement to The Journal Times on Friday afternoon, Steil said: “Instead of voting on a bill to provide relief to Wisconsin workers and families, the House wasted valuable time today to focus on re-writing marijuana policies. This proposal goes far beyond even decriminalization and actually creates taxpayer funded grants and services for convicted drug dealers. The bill also fails to include simple safety measures like requiring warning labels.”
Never in modern history has there existed greater public support for ending the nation’s nearly century-long failed experiment with marijuana prohibition. It is our time to make our voices heard in the halls of Congress.
Now, we must shift our focus to the Senate.
In Wisconsin we are represented by Senator Tammy Balwdin (D) and Ron Johnson (R). Senator Tammy Baldwn (D) is known as a long time supporter of cannabis reform and Senator Johnson (R) is not. We know repeated attempts to educated Senator Johnson have happened and I even traveled to Washington D.C. a few years back to speak with him directly. He is not totally ignorant on the issue, but does not seem to offer any solutions other than continued prohibition. Let’s contact him and see what he says about the MORE Act.
Ron Johnson (R – WI)
Senator Johnson has come out against recreational marijuana legalization, but comments that he is open to seeing data produced by states that are moving forward with recreational cannabis in order to make a further decision.
“What we can do is we can hold hearings to find out how it’s all working, to highlight the issues, highlight the problem, try and define the problems. So I think that’s what we should really do.”
“I have no comment on that right now. That’s a relatively complex issue, dealing with state law and federal law and we’ve got these experiments – we’re not enforcing federal law,” said Johnson. “I guess right now I’m just sitting here watching the states’ experiment and seeing how that happens. If anything I’d want to use the committee to hold a hearing, see how it’s working.”
Johnson said he is also personally against the recreational use of marijuana but believes it’s an issue that should be determined by states. However, he did not indicate whether the same determination should be granted to the District.
“I can’t support it myself because I think it sets a really bad example for young children,” Johnson said. “But states are doing that. Let the voters decide … Again, I like local control of those issues and then what we can do here in Congress is hold hearings, find out, how’s it working? What kind of problems are there?”
11/21/14
http://www.rollcall.com/hill-blotter/johnson-open-to-hearing-on-marijuana-legalization/#sthash.ZM3zAbD8.dpuf
Contact Ron Johnson
Email: https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/casework-contact-form
Web: https://soundcloud.com/senronjohnson
Phone: 202-224-5323
Address: 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
