Crime and Courts: Marijuana gets a trade association, but Wisconsin needs a lobbyist

A Nov 2010 report in the Capital Times by Steve Elbow entitled Crime and Courts: Marijuana gets a trade association recapped on the recent trade association for the marijuana business, but also took notice to the marijuana situation in Wisconsin.

“It seems like the industry is not just surviving in the midst of economic decline, but booming,” says National Cannabis Industry Association executive director Aaron Smith in a statement on the new group’s web site. “But it wasn’t represented in Washington, D.C., like all sorts of other industries are.”

The association’s board of directors is chalk full of key players in what is becoming big business in states where medical marijuana is legal. The group has plans to work with U.S. lawmakers to let states set their own course on marijuana policy and treat growers and sellers just like any other business interests.

“Our lobbyist will be traveling the country and getting new members to get the clout we need to make the change we want,” he says. “Our lobbyist will be representing hundreds of businesses, thousands of jobs and millions of tax dollars. It’s really important we build membership as fast as we can.”

Steve Elbow does not seem to think Wisconsin is a target or ripe for reform anymore.  I would disagree with part of his analysis.  I live up in in central Wisconsin. I ran for State Assembly as an Independent candidate against a three term Republican in an area which saw as much as 70+% straight line Republican voting. During the campaign, we had a hard time finding people who did not support reform and this is was the Republican heartland. My Republican legislators expressed support for reform and the one of them sponsored the industrial hemp bill (Assembly Bill 206).  But Elbow goes on to say:

But don’t expect to see a lot of lobbying in Wisconsin.

I wrote a story about the statewide push to legalize medical marijuana last year, and its prospects looked better, what with Democratic majorities in the Assembly and Senate, and a Democratic governor.

But now efforts to legalize medical marijuana have stalled, and new Republican majorities are unlikely to revive them.

My understanding of past legislation in Wisconsin shows me that the industrial hemp aspect of marijuana has and continues to be a bipartisan subject.  Both Democrats and Republicans alike have sponsored and co-sponsored industrial hemp regulations.  Through my field work I found bipartisan support in and outside of my communities, but yet our farmers, manufactures and workers are still not capturing any of the global hemp market.   Industrial Hemp cultivated, processed and sold for food, fuel and fiber products fundamentally means job creation, but yet our farmers are not planning on ordering any seed for spring, yet.  My understanding is that the Medical Marijuana proposals in the past have primarily started out as Republican bills.  Rather than labeling the marijuana issue an issue of Democrat or Republican, we should label it a peoples issue.  The story closes out by recapping the medical marijuana referendum in Dane County, forgetting that River Falls also captured high support for the issue.  In Dane County, the medical marijuana referendum captured a higher percentage of the vote than any one candidate.  Elbow end his story with this:

But Dane County voters endorsed the idea 76 percent to 24 percent in the fall election.

But who knows? With all the talk about creating jobs and expanding the tax base, Maybe a good lobbyist can get Republicans onboard.

This is an area I agree with the author, a good lobbyist is needed in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is known for strict regulations, high taxes and very good police enforcement. These are all attributes needed for comprehensive laws regarding Industrial Hemp, Medical Marijuana and Recreational Cannabis.  Legal Marijuana is just one voice away down in Madison, a legislator yes, a lobbyist perhaps.