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Wisconsin continues to face out amongst Midwest states as one in every of few that haven’t legalized medicinal and leisure marijuana, and fingers have lengthy pointed to the Tavern League of Wisconsin as the principle adversary to legalization.
However in keeping with public lobbying data — which organizations trying to affect coverage should report with the Wisconsin Ethics Fee — the commerce affiliation has by no means lobbied for or towards it, nor does it take a stance on the problem, in keeping with the Tavern League’s authorities affairs spokesperson Scott Stenger.
“We is not going to weigh in on that situation, it’s simply not one thing our members care about,” Stenger mentioned.
Stenger mentioned the Tavern League takes the lobbying reporting legal guidelines very severely. Regardless of countering the claims that the league opposes marijuana legalization, he mentioned he nonetheless receives calls from people who find themselves “belligerent” over the problem.
“It might appear to me that there’d be extra causes for us to help than oppose, however we by no means have,” Stenger mentioned. “This concept that should you legalize marijuana, individuals aren’t going to go to taverns — marijuana is authorized in lots of states, and the on-premise business hasn’t declined. So there’s no correlation in any respect.”
Then why accomplish that many consider the Tavern League is towards marijuana?
Research on whether or not the legalization of hashish merchandise results in a lower in alcohol gross sales have proven blended outcomes. Knowledge from a examine in Canada confirmed that hashish legalization was related to a decline in beer gross sales, although not spirits gross sales, implying marijuana is getting used as an alternative choice to beer.
However a examine of Washington, Colorado and Oregon — three U.S. states the place leisure hashish has been authorized the longest — discovered no proof that legalization has impacted complete alcohol gross sales.
So who truly is lobbying towards marijuana legalization in Wisconsin?
Since 2003, three curiosity teams have lobbied instantly towards payments that will have legalized medicinal and/or leisure marijuana: Wisconsin Household Motion, Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Affiliation and Wisconsin Medical Society.
The Medical Society has lobbied towards legalizing medicinal use for years. The final time the group lobbied instantly on a medical marijuana invoice within the Legislature was in 2022. The affiliation nonetheless opposes medicinal legalization, in keeping with its chief coverage and advocacy officer Mark Grapentine.
“Medicines” are substances accepted by the FDA after rigorous testing to ensure any drug is efficient and secure, Grapentine instructed Wisconsin Watch.
“We don’t help so-called ‘medical’ marijuana schemes as a result of they’re designed to sound like marijuana analysis has gone by way of that type of trusted course of, but it surely has not,” he mentioned.
The Medical Society does help shifting marijuana to a spot within the Managed Substances Act that permits for extra widespread examine and scientific analysis for the event of hashish medicines.
“I feel it’s a kind of perpetual points — it’s all the time both ‘medical’ marijuana of some sort or full-blown legalization,” Grapentine mentioned in an electronic mail when requested about the way forward for marijuana payments within the Legislature.
In 2022, 2017 and 2015, the Chiefs of Police Affiliation lobbied towards each leisure and medicinal marijuana laws. The affiliation declined to remark for this story.
Wisconsin Household Motion lobbied towards one of the latest marijuana payments within the Legislature in 2023. The invoice, launched by state Sen. Melissa Agard, would have legalized each leisure and medicinal hashish. It died within the state Senate.
Wisconsin Household Motion didn’t reply to Wisconsin Watch’s repeated requests for remark. In 2022, the group launched a press release saying “Christians ought to oppose” Gov. Tony Evers and included his help for leisure marijuana legalization as one of many causes.
In 2010 and 2019, the Wisconsin Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs Affiliation lobbied towards bipartisan payments that will have established a medical necessity protection to marijuana-related prosecutions. When requested what the group’s present stance on marijuana is, enterprise supervisor Sandy Schueller mentioned “we aren’t taking a proper place till we see the official laws through the subsequent session of the Legislature.”
In 2019, the Badger State Sheriffs’ Affiliation additionally lobbied towards bipartisan laws that will have established a medical use protection, in addition to a medical hashish registry. The affiliation president, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, instructed Wisconsin Watch the group stays against each medical and leisure marijuana.
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