Just Budget and Press Conference and Public Hearing

I spoke and testified at public hearings in the past. The last time we had a public hearing on medical marijuana in Wisconsin was over eleven (11) years ago. Wisconsin had a pretty good chance to pass medical marijuana legislation in the 2019-20 legislative cycle. Governor Tony Evers proposed both medical marijuana and decriminalization in that budget. Republicans gutted anything marijuana or cannabis related from the budget.

Republican leadership and Republican key committee chairs withheld several bills from even a public hearing, including a medical marijuana start up bill vetted by the Republican Caucus.

Still, the landscape in politics does change and coming off an election we can see which of our newly elected official stands up for our rights and which ones do not. Do not give up the fight! That is why I wrote an article entitled “Keep Bud in the Budget and Make Marijuana a Priority” in November of 2020.

Building Unity, A non-partisan multi-organizational project with the goal of building a well-organized united movement for peace, justice, sustainability, and democracy. The coalition wants to create opportunities to collaborate and focus on common needs and aspirations, which included the regulation and taxation of cannabis as a budget recommendation to Governor Evers for the 2021-22 Wisconsin Budget.

I recently testified about cannabis reform, legalization and taxation of marijuana at the Building Unity press conference and public hearing on February 4th, 2021 for a “Just Budget”. I archived the video of the conference below. I spoke at the 20:45 mark.