SOUTH BELOIT, Ill. — For the past eight years, State Sen. Melissa Agard (D-Madison) has pushed to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin.
So far, her efforts have fallen flat. In fact, none of her proposed bills have ever had a public hearing.
Tuesday morning, Agard made her push again. This time, south of the Wisconsin border where marijuana is legal.
From the parking lot of the Sunnyside Dispensary in South Beloit, IL, you can see the border of Wisconsin on the other side of the interstate. Agard said with so many of Wisconsin's neighbors passing reforms, it is proof the state is becoming an island of prohibition.
Agard wants to build off of Gov. Tony Evers' most recent budget proposal, which included measures to legalize medical and recreational cannabis.
“Prohibition has not worked when it comes to alcohol, it did not work when it came to margarine, and it's not working when it comes to cannabis,” Agard said.
Agard's latest bill would legalize marijuana and tax it like alcohol, similar to what Gov. Evers proposed.
“The ability to invest in and move forward our agricultural communities is vitally important as our farmers have been suffering for decades,” Agard said. “The ability to give our state the economic boost that it so desperately needs is vital.”
Agard's proposal, which is backed by State Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) in the Assembly, also calls for investing roughly half of the tax revenue made from cannabis sales into community reinvestment grants to help those impacted by laws banning marijuana.
“Under the failed war on drugs, the cannabis prohibition laws have disproportionally impacted communities of color,” Bowen said. “Almost one out of four incarcerated individuals in the state of Wisconsin are charged with drug-related offenses.”
Fiscal estimates from the state project $165 million in revenue would be generated yearly from legalized cannabis, which Beloit Council President Clinton Anderson wants to cash in on.
“You ask any local elected official, they see dollar signs going out of the state and coming into Illinois, and that trickles down to local economies, and that trickles down to our community,” Anderson said. “The City of Beloit, and the rest of Wisconsin, is missing out on a great economic opportunity here.”
18 states and D.C. have legalized recreational cannabis so far, but the Republican-controlled Legislature in Wisconsin has been hesitant to do so.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has said in the past he supports medical marijuana, but would not support recreational use.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) has said if the FDA approves medical marijuana then it should be treated like any other prescription drug.
“If the federal government delists it and it goes through FDA testing, then it should be treated like any other drug,” LeMahieu said during a WisPolitics event in April. “If there’s advantages to it, if it helps out people, I have no problem with it as long as a doctor’s prescribing it.”
However, LeMahieu went on to explain that there is not enough support for either medical or recreational marijuana in his caucus right now.