Charlene Charlie Warner (D) to challenge Warren Petryk
Holding this office for a decade now, Republican assembly representative Warren Petryk from The Town of Washington has not co-sponsored any legislation on marijuana reform since elected in 2010.
During 2019, the Assembly Republicans prefiled a bill for the 2020 legislative session to create a medical marijuana program in Wisconsin (Assembly Bill 750) which he did not sponsor.
March 2020 Republicans circulated a decriminalization bill for co-sponsorship which he failed to co-sponsor.
Holds office State Assembly District 93, part of which is in Eau Claire County which in 2018 passed an adult use advisory referendum by 54% and medical 84% support.
Link to Full Smoke The Vote Scorecard
Contact Warren Petryk: Email: Anna.Watson@legis.wisconsin.gov, Web: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/petryk/Pages/default.aspx Phone: 608-266-0660
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Charlie bills herself as an old-fashioned Democrat who believes in working across the aisle. She want to STOP the partisan politics that is tearing us apart. Her Campaign Facebook Page goes onto add: “I will represent the people, not special interests, corporations or parties. I’m your neighbor and I care about you.“
Her basic stance on marijuana reform is this; “I am fully in favor of legalizing medical marijuana and will push for full legalization at the right time” as she told me during a recent chat.
Her 2020 Press Release reporting the campaign kick off contained the issue of marijuana reform and in 2018, her campaign completed our comprehensive candidate survey:
1. Do you support a legal, regulated, and taxed market for recreational cannabis, allowing Wisconsin residents over the age of 21 to purchase and possess up to two ounces (or more) of cannabis from regulated dispensaries, as proposed by State Rep. Melissa Sargent’s (D-Madison) AB482?
Yes
2. Do you support allowing any Wisconsin resident over the age of 21 to grow up to 6 (or more) cannabis plants at home without a license, as proposed by AB482?
It is apparent that Wisconsin has good growing conditions for cannabis or hemp. I do not believe in licensing items grown for personal use but I do not have enough information to make a numerative conclusion at this time.
3. Do you support allowing patients suffering from various ailments to purchase and use cannabis as treatment for their ailments if they have a doctor’s recommendation?
Absolutely. The use of cannabis for medical conditions is older than the pyramids.
4. Do you agree with the qualifying conditions for medical cannabis outlined in Section 42 of AB482 (listed below)?
(2) "Debilitating medical condition or treatment" means any of the following: (a) Cancer; glaucoma; acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; a positive test for the presence of HIV, antigen or nonantigenic products of HIV, or an antibody to HIV; Crohn's disease; a hepatitis C virus infection; Alzheimer's disease; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; nail patella syndrome; Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome; post-traumatic stress disorder; or the treatment of these conditions. (b) A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or the treatment of such a disease or condition that causes cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy, or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis. (c) Any other medical condition or any other treatment for a medical condition designated as a debilitating medical condition or treatment in rules promulgated by the department of health services under s. 50.81 (2).
Yes
5. Answer this question only if you support both recreational and medicinal uses of cannabis. Do you support allowing medical cannabis patients to possess more cannabis than recreational users and to be exempt from the taxes that are imposed on recreational users?
Yes, I agree with the present system that most states have enacted of not taxing medical cannabis.
6. Do you support a permitting system that would enable publicly-accessible establishments to allow legal possessors of cannabis to smoke it in outdoor areas at their establishments? This would address an issue present in other states’ implementations, where many people are legally allowed to purchase and possess cannabis, but have no place to legally consume it.
Yes. Provided the outdoor area is a good distance from ‘smoke free’ areas.
7. Do you support conviction expungement or pardons for anyone convicted of possession, growing, and/or selling cannabis in Wisconsin?
Yes. It is time to roll back the imprisonment of people with minor cannabis convictions.
8. Do you support or would you consider any other cannabis regulatory or legalization scheme for Wisconsin
I would consider alternatives if and when they are presented.
9. Do you believe that possession of limited amounts of cannabis by a person in his or her own home or in another’s home with the owner’s permission should be legal in the State of Wisconsin?
Yes, it only makes sense.
10. What level of taxes do you think should be imposed on recreational cannabis?
I can not in good conscience answer that question without additional information. I am in favor of keeping the taxing system as simple as possible. It appears that each state has adopted highly individualized plans. The Colorado program of using the state tax + a 10% excise tax seems to be working well for them.
11. How do you think that tax revenue should be used?
The tax revenue must first be used to pay for the additional costs to state and local governments due to legalization and regulation. The bulk of the revenue would be best used for bringing down the costs of health care, lymes disease education and eradication, fighting the meth and opioid crisis and strengthening the funds used for long term care.
12. Why is cannabis law reform an important issue to you?
Cannabis has been in use to ease pain and illness since approximately 3000 BC. and was readily accepted across the world and in our country for centuries. I have worked to legalize and/or decriminalize it’s use since it was listed as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance back in 1970. An act that needs to be repealed in its absurdity. This is NOT a gateway drug. I know many chronically ill individuals who are able to tolerate their pain because they are fortunate to live in states that have at the very least legalized Medical cannabis. Frankly, I want the tax income and the social and economic windfall that would be generated when we stop policing, charging and imprisoning recreational users of cannabis in Wisconsin.
Additional Comments
One can only wonder what was in the minds of men who placed cannabis on the Schedule 1 Controlled Substance list back in 1970. It is no surprise that the producers of alcohol and pharmaceuticals are the biggest opponents of legalization. They are eagerly joined by the privately owned prison systems and their supporters. One only has to follow the money to understand.
Her campaign website best describes the 93rd Assembly District: Are you wondering if you live in the 93rd Assembly District? The boundaries are tricky and it covers a large area beginning around 6 miles East of Altoona and heading west to the confluence of the St. Croix River and the Mighty Mississippi north of Prescott. Prescott is actually the largest city in the district as the college communities of Eau Claire, Menomonie and River Falls were excluded. The lines will be redrawn later next year once the census is completed. The Wisconsin Constitution requires that the state legislative districts be compact and “that they be bounded by county, precinct, town, or ward lines where possible”. Our legislature has the responsibility of creating 99 districts with about 57,444 residents–those elected officials have the ability to change districts for their elective benefit. Managing the district lines for party benefit actually violates the constitutional principal of 1 person-1 vote. I am in favor of non-partisan, neutral redistricting criteria such at the process used by Iowa. It’s time to end this partisan divide!
Learn more about her campaign by visiting her website at http://www.warnerforassembly.com/
Election is Tuesday November 3rd, 2020.
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